Stand My Ground
by you.broke.a.promise
Summary: Oh, the things that can happen.
1. The Offer

Title: Stand My Ground

Rating: M for violence, language and later chapters.

Distribution: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

Reviews: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

Disclaimer: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

Main Pairings: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

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The pink haired kunoichi stared at the man standing before her. She was having a hell of a time trying to keep her jaw attatched to her face. He was so handsome. But then, he always had been.

She mentally shook away the thoughts and tried to find her voice. He beat her to it.

"Sakura," His voice washed over her like honey. "Long time, no see."

She glared at him. "You know damn well who's to blame for that, Uchiha."

He smirked at her, taking her in. She looked so...different, so... hot. He'd blame it on hormones again. This stupid attraction to her. It'd been two years since he'd seen her, and he'd admitted to himself then he was attracted to her. They'd been fifteen, and the newly formed team seven had once again tried to take him unwillingly back to Konoha. She'd always been pretty, so had Ino and most of the other girls who had admired him over the years and flanked him from time to time. He wondered if there were any that still liked him.

"This is your last chance," Sakura warned. "Just come home with me willingly. I don't want to fight with you."

"I'm glad the feeling is mutual," He murmured.

"You actually have feelings?" Her words were unexpectedly cold. At this, he raised an eyebrow. "Sorry it's just," she continued on sarcastically. "When you left me on that bench, it kinda seemed like you were a cold heartless asshole." She glared at him.

Her words triggered his memory.

_"I love you more than anything!"_

His words echoed arrogantly in his head.

_"Sakura." He appeared behind her. "Thank you."_

At that same moment, she was thinking about those exact same words. Just as she had for the last five years.

**What the hell was he thanking me for?**

Sasuke stepped forward, wondering why she of all people would bring it up.

"_You are annoying_." She laughed, mocking him. "It's exactly what I would've expected had I been smart enough **not** to fall for you."

Unable to conceal his frown, he turned away from her.

"I tell you I love you, that I would do _anything_ for you, and what do you do? What does the infamous Uchiha Sasuke do? He knocks me out." Her bitterness surprised him. Did he make her this way? Why did he care? "Then, I see you again, all ready to let by gones be by gones. But no. You've become so fucking cold, that you threaten to kill me. You almost do!" She paused, and a cruel smirk flickered across her face. "Well, Uchiha, I guess it runs in the family."

He turned around, angry onyx eyes meeting shining emerald, "That," He narrowed his eyes. "Was low."

"Well," Now it was her turn to smirk. "Payback's a dish best served cold."

He stared at her with amusement. Sure, her words had stung him, but they had only scratched the surface. And just barely.

_**She thinks of this as payback?**_

He took another step towards her and her hand went flying towards her kunai, but his voice stopped her cold.

"Don't."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't what, Uchiha?"

"Don't even fucking think about it."

She smiled at him, a grin fit for the cheshire cat.

"I want to know what was more important. You left us to become stronger. You betrayed the only people who still cared about you to learn from that thing... Orochimaru. The snake that caused you a lot of pain during the second part of the chunnin exams, if I recall. Yet, you still chose him over your friends. So," Her smile was calm and collected. "Lets see if it was worth it."

She pulled out three kunai with no warning as he activated the sharingan. They missed his head by inches, and he watched in amusement as she pulled out three more. Her fist began to glow green with stored up chakra and she slammed it into the earth, split seconds before she threw the chakra charged kunai.

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"Naruto!" He was way up ahead and still gaining speed. Ino frowned, remembering their mission.

_"Sakura needs your help." Tsunade said quickly. "Our information was wrong. Orochimaru is dead, therefore Sasuke cannot be after Naruto and Kyuubi. He has no use for either. He's after her. He wants Sakura."_

"Naruto! If you don't slow your butt down I'm gonna lose you and then we won't get there in time!"

He slowed his pace a little, but his steps never faultered. They were hopefully moving in the right direction. Forty miles to the right, he heard an explosion. He turned his head to Ino, "Damn it! We're going the wrong damn way!" He swerved sharply to the right, and hoped he wasn't too late.

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Sakura was panting. The four explosive shuriken that Sasuke had dodged had hit a few trees causing an explosion. Anyone within a one hundred mile radias would be there soon, trying to find out what happened. She looked at him, glaring, knowing full well that he hadn't even used his chidori yet. He smirked at her.

"Had enough yet?" He asked, deactivating the sharingan.

"No, not even close," she lunged herself at him intending to kick him, and as she expected, he moved to block it, not surprised when she appeared using substitution, out of the sky. He was surprised when she landed a kick to his chest. They both landed in a heap on the ground, and Sasuke immediately dominated the situation. He rolled her over, trapping her with his body. She glared at him, a look of death.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

She was disgusted. "Get off."

He smiled, and she realized how it sounded.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Get the FUCK off of me!"

He was starting to enjoy the way she was wriggling underneath him, and without any notice at all he smashed his lips to hers in a fiery kiss. Sakura's eyes opened wide in surprise. She knew she couldn't deny him. She never could. Slowly, she began to kiss him back.

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"NARUTO!" Ino was getting extremely pissed off with him.

**First he says he wants to go on the mission alone. Then he says he might need my mind-transfer jutsu. Now he thinks he's leaving me in the middle of the woods.**

"PICK UP THE PACE!!" Naruto yelled from somewhere in front of her. Damn him, he was so impatient. "If he lays even one_ finger_ on Sakura, I will kill him."

Ino increased her pace with a groan. There was obviously no arguing with him.

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Sakura could feel his hands begin to wander. This was going too far, too fast. Did she want this? Not yet. She pushed him roughly off of her and stood up. She stared at him for a moment and then with the loudest voice he had _ever_ heard her use she yelled,

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GOD DAMNED MIND?!"

He smirked at her, his onyx eyes concealing his true plan. "Come with me, Sakura."

She froze. **He did **_**not**_** just say that.** "What did you just say to me?"

"I want you to come with me. If the ninjas from Konoha are as good as they used to be, they would've known that Orochimaru has been dead for a while."

She looked...pale.

He laughed, and her head snapped up in surprise. **Did he really just laugh?** When had she heard him really laugh?

"I want you, there's no use in denying it." The usual blush that would've covered her cheeks wasn't in place. "Come live with me, after I kill Itachi."

She stared at him blankly. "This is a trick. You're going to pretend you mean that and act like you're going to catch me when you're really just going to let me fall."

Sasuke looked annoyed. "This is a one time offer Sakura."

"Fine," She said, searching for the words. Another cruel smile graced her lips. "If you want me so badly, I'm going with you now. Not after you kill Itachi."

He stared at her.


	2. Another One Lost

Title: Stand My Ground

Rating: M for violence, language and later chapters.

Distribution: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

Reviews: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

Disclaimer: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

Main Pairings: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

A/N: Thank you guys for all the reviews!

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Sasuke took a moment.

**When did she get so stubborn?**

For the first time, he didn't really know what to say. If he said no, he'd have to find another woman to fufill his purposes. Which for him, wasn't really a problem thanks to the sexy Uchiha genes he possessed. The real problem was that he didn't want just any woman, he wanted her. His ex-teammate. The girl standing in front of him, bubblegum pink hair, hands on her hips.

**Those sexy little hips...** He shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts and sighed.

"Fine, let's go."

She stared at him, amazed.

"You're actually going to let me have my way?"

He looked at her. Her knees were subtley turning into jello. "Just remember you asked for this."

Her heart seemed to stop in her chest. **Asked for what?** The knot of dread in her stomach tightened.

"There are going to be a few conditions," he said quietly, turning to walk away into the forest.

She untied her forehead protector and let it drop to the ground. **For Naruto.** She turned her attention back to him.

"Oh, yeah?" She asked casually, falling into step beside him. "And what are those?"

He smirked at her but said nothing.

Anger soared through her insides. **If he thinks that he's gonna be able to have his way with me whenever he feels like it, he's in for a rude awakening. **She groaned, following him deeper into the forest, quietly still dreading what he had in mind for her.

**This isn't Sasuke,** her conscience told her.** This is the Uchiha part of him. The so-called avenger. The one that will stop at nothing to get revenge for his clan. This isn't the Sasuke that you considered your savior. The one that saved you almost ever time you needed saving. This isn't the boy that you thought you were in love with. He's different. Stronger. Older. Colder.** She began to inwardly panic, realizing her potential mistake.

"Wait!" She stopped abrubtly, causing him to turn and look at her in annoyance. Maybe it was Sasuke. It _could_ be. Sasuke would let her go, he wouldn't force her into anything. However, she suspected that the Uchiha part of him wouldn't stop at a girl's simple protest. He would take her by force if he had to. "I'm not so sure about this."

She swallowed as his eyes narrowed. "Yes or no, Sakura, I don't have time to argue with you."

"I can't do this right now."

She watched his mouth twitch. "Then go home."

She watched him walk away from her again, and waited until he was out of sight before she shouted, "Wait! Where are you going?!"

Her heart skipped a beat, and she gasped feeling his hand spontaneously appear on her shoulder.

"Make up your damn mind," He was glaring. "They're catching up."

"I was testing you," she said, taking a deep breath. "I had to make sure."

"What are you talking about?" He asked with a controlled amount of curiousity.

"I...I had to make sure that I was right." He frowned at her and she began to explain. "Well, I figured that if you were the Sasuke I suspected you mgiht be, you'd let me go. If you weren't you'd try and take me against my will." The blush still wasn't there. He was surprised.

"So, that's why you were calling me--"

"Uchiha." She finished for him. "Yeah. I was sure the Sasuke I knew was dead but when you stopped, I needed to be sure."

His face was suddenly grim. "Move, we have to move now." He grabbed her hand, and quickly pulled her in the opposite direction.

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Naruto could feel _his_ chakra and Sakura's somewhere up ahead. He and Ino had reached the area of the explosion moments ago, but Sakura and Sasuke were nowhere in sight. Naruto moved forward.

"Wait!" Ino yelled. "Look!" Naruto followed her pointing finger. On the ground something was glinting in the remaining sunlight.

Ino jumped down out of the tree and landed gracefully on her feet beside the object. When she looked up she smiled a sad smile, and Naruto groaned.

"It's Sakura's, right? She's the only leaf ninja with a red one." Ino nodded sadly and jumped back up into the tree, handing it to Naruto.

**Not another one... First Sasuke and now Sakura?** Team seven had finally lost half of it's four members. He thought of the other forehead protecter sitting in the draw of his night stand. The one with the scratch across it. For some reason he just kept losing people.


	3. Difficult

Title: Stand My Ground

Rating: M for violence, language and later chapters.

Distribution: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

Reviews: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

Disclaimer: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

Main Pairings: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews guys, and thank you **rhaize**, i thought it was dark pink! i'll fix it though.

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Sasuke stared in wonder as Sakura slept peacefully on the bed. She had gotten too tired to keep moving earlier that day, and too exhausted from fighting to keep going. Sasuke had assured her that they were almost there, but she had passed out. There was a small smile on her lips, and every so often she would whisper things in her sleep that made even him blush. When he had finally reached the cabin with Sakura sleeping in his arms, he had lain her down on the bed, and she still hadn't woken up.

He stood up from his perch on the chair by the window and moved to poke at the fire. He wasn't quite sure why he had gotten up to tend to the fire, as it was still steadily going. _Possibly something to take his mind off the hot little kunoichi lying in his bed?_

He turned when he heard her groan in her sleep. She frowned and mumbled his name. **What is she dreaming about?**

He frowned and sat down in his chair again. This made no sense to him at all. He shouldn't have agreed to let her come before he killed Itachi. If Itachi found out that anyone meant _anything_ to him at all, and Itachi would kill them just to spite him. That was something Sasuke couldn't afford to happen. He couldn't lose Sakura. He sighed a melancholy sigh and looked over at her again. Her hair was over her eyes, and he could see the smile was back in place.

Sasuke wondered what he was going to say. He hadn't expected her to accept his offer. He hadn't really expected anything. He hadn't even expected to see her for a while longer. He certainly hadn't expected himself to offer her what he had. He had surprised himself.

He couldn't just demand that she help him with his ambitions. He wouldn't force her to do anything. She meant to much to him. He trusted her in some small way.

But then, he wasn't aware of Sakura's plan.

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"It's been two days, Tsunade-sama. Please, let me go back out and look." Naruto had the glint in his eye that Tsunade never liked. She wasn't about to send him out alone, and she wasn't sure she wanted to put Ino back in danger either. She sighed.

"Naruto, please. I will send you out in due time. With a team of six." She looked thoughtful. "Two days. You, Kakashi, TenTen, Neji, Ino and Shikamaru will do it, I think. If they accept an A-rank mission. They do have a choice, because they will be risking their lives."

"I understand," Naruto took a deep breath. "What if someone declines?"

Tsunade looked at Naruto hard. "If we cannot find five chunin or jonin level ninjas to assist you, then I'm sorry, Naruto."

"But Tsunade-sama!"

"No, Naruto. I'm sorry. Send in those four ninjas for me. I'll find Kakashi myself. That is all."

Naruto stood up and sadly looked at Tsunade before he turned and left her office.

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Ino was window shopping, occasionally going in and browsing, looking for a birthday present for her mom.

"Ino! Hey Ino!" Ino turned and saw Naruto running to catch up to her. She stopped and waited.

"Hey, Naruto. What's up?"

"Tsunade-sama wants to see you in her office right away about an A-rank mission."

"Oh?" Ino tried to wrap her mind around this. The last A-rank she'd gotten was to get Sakura back, and she'd failed. Why would the Hokage want to give her another A-rank mission, she didn't know.

"Yeah. She wants to see you right now."

She headed straight for the Hokage's office forgetting all about her mother's present.

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Sakura opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. Where the heck was she? She sat up slowly, and didn't see Sasuke anywhere. The fire was slowly burning, and the room was filled with the aroma of forest and musk. She wrinkled her nose. Where was he?

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. She could see the kitchen to her left through a door and another room to her right. She went for it. The living room. But no Sasuke. There was another bedroom on the other side of the living room that looked like a guest room. So she had been lying in Sasuke's bed? The thought gave her shivers. She saw a light coming from underneath another door and listened. She could hear the shower running. Satisfied, she went back into the bedroom.

Ten minutes later Sasuke walked back into the room to check on her. He found her sitting in his chair in front of the fire, her eyes closed. He frowned and went over to the bag lying by his bed and pulled out some clean clothes to change into. When he looked back over at Sakura, he saw that she was watching him move about half-naked in his towel. He thought about dropping it, just to see the look on her face but decided against it. He didn't want to scare her away.

She seemed to read his mind, "Yeah, I don't think that it's such a good idea."

"What?"

"Dropping your towel."

His eyebrows rose. "Hn."

He decided to anyway. The look on her face wasn't what he'd expected. She seemed more curious than embarrassed, and there was still no blush on her cheeks.

She was surprised that he seemed surprised. He was the one that dropped the towel, not her.

**Well, well, well. So this is what it's like to see Uchiha Sasuke without clothes. **

She couldn't help herself. She stood up. He still hadn't moved to either pick the towel up, or pull on his boxers.

"What are you thinking?"

Her question came out of nowhere.

"Actually, I was wondering what you were thinking."

Sakura was suddenly in front of him. Her hand was on his cheek. She leaned up on her tip-toes and kissed him. When the need for air became apparent she pulled away and with a small smile left him alone in the room.

Sasuke was floored.

**Did that really just happen?**

Which surprised Sasuke even more. He wasn't really surprised a lot these days. He never expected anything from anyone. That way he couldn't be disappointed when his expectations weren't met. That's how he lived his life. But he had to admit to himself, he sure hadn't expected that from Sakura. The blushing girl with pink hair who used to chase him around with hearts in her eyes.

**But that's not her anymore,** He reminded himself. She was older, stronger and different, just as he was. She had obviously changed more than her appearance told. She wasn't so shy anymore, and she was definitally mentally stronger. She hadn't really complained and thank god, she hadn't cried yet. For some reason it was him who always had made her cry. He never understood. People could usually tell when they weren't wanted or welcome. When they were younger Sakura had never seemed to get the hint. He had found her annoying and weak. It was strange now, because suddenly with her around he didn't feel so alone. He actually felt something other than darkness and loneliness. He felt... well, looking down he knew he felt _something_.

He sighed and pulled his clothes on. It was going to be hard living with her.

In the bathroom, Sakura was thinking the same exact thing. She had realized a few things in the last minutes.

One, what happened if she got her period? It's not like Sasuke kept female toiletries in his small cabin in the middle of who-knows-where.

Two, What was she going to change into? She didn't hae any clothes with her. She couldn't really wear the same thing forever.

Three, Sleeping arangements? Was she sleeping in the guest room, on the couch or...with him?

The scene in the bedroom had been heated. She had been so _proud_ of herself. But what did it mean? He told her that he wanted her. She knew that it _didn't_ mean that she was going to let him jump her bones the second they had the chance. She knew that it didn't mean that he loved her. Which was still what she really wanted on the inside. She sighed and splashed a little more water on her face. At least she didn't look like hell. Which was what she expected when she had gone into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. She looked presentable besides the fact that her clothes were dirty and one of her sleeves was torn. Out of ideas, she put a smile on her face and opened the door.

Sasuke still hadn't left the bedroom. She sat down in one of the chairs in the living room, waiting. A few minutes later he appeared, this time with clothes, and asked what she wanted to eat. When she shrugged her shoulders and told him, "Cook's choice," he had turned and gone into the kitchen. This led Sakura to a few other questions.

Where did he get his food? Where did he get the money to buy his food? Was he going to pretend that the bedroom thing hadn't happened?

She leaned back in her chair.

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"So you all accept this mission?" The five of the six ninjas standing around Tsunade's office all let out one word. "Hai."

"You understand that accepting an A-rank mission means that you may die."

"Hai," was chorused through out the room. Naruto looked relieved.

"See, I told you they'd all accept, Tsunade-sama."

She raised an eyebrow at him before briefing them. "You can leave as soon as you're all ready."


	4. Changed

Title: Stand My Ground

Rating: M for violence, language and later chapters.

Distribution: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

Reviews: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

Disclaimer: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

Main Pairings: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

A/N: I'm dedicating this chapter to **HPBabe91**! I loved your review!

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Sasuke was beginning to break a sweat. He was up standing quietly on a tree limb out of sight from his opponent. He thoughts drifted to her. He could see his enemy down below, figure perfectly still trying to sense his position... A memory flashed of the night before, watching Sakura sleep, call out his name.. But he hadn't had the courage to step forward and wake her, tell her that he'd been there... it was just too... intimate for him. He wrinkled his nose and brought himself back to reality.

He swore under his breath. He had let his thoughts drift off and now he had lost track of his pursuer. He saw a flash of something and a sense of relief filled him. He lunged from the tree and was instantly pissed when his foot made contact with wood.

**Substitution again. Fuck. **

He cursed himself for not guessing his opponent would use the technique. He rolled quickly over onto his haunches and looked around. His red eyes searched the surrounding area but found no trace of the enemy. He smirked as he heard the familiar whizzing of shuriken flying towards his head. He easily side-stepped them and turned around to face the ninja challenging him. He read her movements easily and launched a round house kick to her abdomen which placed the familiar smirk back on his lips. But the smirk was wiped off the second her chakra charged fist made contact with his face causing a sickening crack to echo through the clearing. The tumbled to the ground again and she quickly twisted out of his grasp pulling herself into another fighting stance, breathing heavily.

Sasuke stood up also breathing heavily.

"You're getting better. I think you may have broken my nose."

"I'll fix it later," she said, the look in her eyes never changing. Her eyes followed the thin line of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. Granted, she had a few knicks and scrapes but nothing serious. She knew he was holding back on her again. The thought immediately pissed her off. She wasn't twelve anymore, and she didn't need him to hold back. She wanted to see what he was made of during their one on one sparring session.

"Stop holding back, Uchiha."

He had come to realize that in the last few days whenever she was mad at him or upset, she called him Uchiha. His eyes narrowed and he lunged at her again, knocking her down.

"What's my name?"

She glared. "Uchiha," she spat, he could almost feel the anger radiating off of her in waved. He grinned inwardly.

"Wrong." His face got closer. "What's my name, Sakura?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Get off me, you jerk."

His eyebrows rose at her hostility. "Sorry, wrong again."

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"Pakkun, which way?"

Kakashi stood upright and looked at Naruto. "I told you, we're stopping for the night."

Naruto crossed his arms. "But Kakashi-sensei--"

"I thought we established you no longer had to add 'sensei' to the end of my name?"

Naruto frowned grudgingly. "But it reminds me of old times."

Kakashi didn't say anything; he just moved to talk to Pakkun, who was lying tiredly on someone's deserted jacket.

Naruto looked around. Ino was talking quietly to TenTen and Neji was off in the woods somewhere gathering wood with Shikamaru. All Naruto wanted to do was move forward. He hated standing around. Neji and Shikamaru entered the campsite. After setting wood down near the fire pit, they sat down on logs. Naruto walked over to them as did TenTen and Ino. They were all sitting in a small circle except for Kakashi and Pakkun who were still deep in conversation.

"So, Hyuga," Naruto said calmly, "How've you been?"

Neji looked calmly at Naruto, his expression betraying nothing. "Good." After that, silence. Naruto raised an eyebrow and turned to Shikamaru.

"How about you, Shikamaru?"

"Oh troublesome," Shikamaru said under his breath. "It's all been..." He paused, searching for words.

"Peachy," Ino put in. Shikamaru stared at her.

"Peachy?"

Ino narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, got a problem with it?"

Shikamaru put his hands up, "Nevermind, nevermind, always so bothersome, what a drag..."

Ino rolled her eyes. TenTen smiled and rested her head on Neji's shoulder, and Neji stared intently at the burning fire.

**Awkward...**Naruto had lost all hope to starting a conversation.

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Sakura had been right. Living with Sasuke had turned out to be a predicament. Mostly an emotional one. But So far, all of her main problems had been solved, respectively.

Sasuke had shown her that a small village just north of his isolated cabin was a huge trading spot. Everything there was cheap. She had taken the last of her money and gotten new clothes, and _feminine_ toiletries, all while angering Sasuke because she had used her own money. She found that at certain points of the day she liked to make him angry. It almost made him passionate. Key word: _almost_.

The sleeping situation. Ha, Sakura loved to laugh about this. They slept in the same bed, but usually had no physical contact whatsoever. She found it funny, but it also made her kind of sad.

After the weird situation in the bedroom her first night in the cabin, nothing exciting had happened. It's as if Sasuke had just shut off his emotions. She got an occasional rise out of him, a kiss or two, but nothing like when they'd been in the woods. Had she lost her chance? Nah, she didn't think he would have asked her to come with him if that was the only time he was going to try to make a move. Not that she wanted him to. Or did she?

She had also learned the so-called _rules_ he'd so casually mentioned. The rules were:

1) She could tell no one their location. If Itachi found out that she was with him, she was dead. (She was okay with this rule, she wouldn't be telling anyone their location.)

2) No secrets. _From him._ That was going to be interesting. He had promised, (_yes promised_) that he would keep no real secrets either. By real, she had no idea what he meant.

3) She had to keep training. (She personally thought that it was because he didn't want her to get fat. She didn't really know, it was just her assumption. Or maybe it was because he wanted her to be able to defend herself…?)

Those were all okay with her. If he had said anything pertaining to marriage, she would've flipped. Gone crazy. Insisted to herself that one of them was mental. And then probably ran. Thank god he was too smart to try it. Or maybe that wasn't his motive. She didn't know. All she had to do was stick to her plan and both she and Sasuke would come out okay. And maybe he wouldn't hate her. She hoped not.

Her plan was basically simple. But it was also breaking one of his rules. No Secrets. Her plan needed secrets to be her plan. She was going to bring Sasuke home. And just because it was a simple plan, didn't mean it was going to be an easy plan. She was going to have to deceive Sasuke. All she had to do was… well... get him to fall in love with her. Right? Cause then if he loved her, he would bend to her every will and command.

Wow, he plan was going to hell. She knew that no one could ever really control Sasuke, love or no love. She sat down and thought of her real plan. She knew that once she had put the plan in motion, all hell would break lose... and maybe her heart would break too.

Sasuke walked out of the kitchen, two bowls in his hands. She looked curiously at him as he set one beside her on the coffee table and drew himself down on to the couch beside her. She peered into the bowl, and smiled at what she saw. Icecream.

She picked up her bowl and leaned back into the couch, slowly savoring the cold sugary concoction on her tongue. She was about to take another bite when she caught him watching her.

"What?"

"..."

"C'mon, what is it?"

"Hn." He took a bite and she turned her attention back to her Icecream.

A while later, Sakura had tiredly told him that she was going to take a nap. She was lying down on what she had come to think of as _her_ side of_ his_ bed.

He appeared in the doorway, freshly showered one more with just a towel. This time, she wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary, or what she thought was ordinary. They hadn't repeated the first night's situation and she was reasonably sure that he wouldn't pull something like that on her again—at least for a while. She could feel his eyes on her, and the hairs on her neck began to stand on end. She shivered.

To her surprise, she sensed that he hadn't moved from his position in the doorway, and began to wonder what he was doing, or what he was thinking about doing- that was until she heard her name slip out from between his lips.

She turned her head to look at him and caught herself staring at the enticing planes of his chest and toned abs. She adverted her eyes and looked up at his face. There was something different there. Something new, a new emotion that she had yet to see since they had been twelve. She couldn't place it.

Before she could even count to ten, he was across the room, his lips on hers, covering half of her body with his naked torso.

Maybe Sasuke wasn't as _cold_ as she thought?

And then she was kissing him back, allowing him not only entrance into her mouth, but into her world.

Suddenly her shirt was being pulled over her head, and her mind come up with the same question again: **Is this what I want?**

She had stopped him once in the woods- could she stop him again? She knew that if he _really_ wanted to take her, she wouldn't stand a chance against his physical strength.

Though the thought scared her, she knew she didn't really want to stop.

**I love him. I have for such a long time now..**

Even if the guy _did_ leave her unconscious on a bench after purposely knocking her out, she couldn't just stop loving him. That's not the way she was.

She thought for a moment, ignoring his wandering hands. **This is Sasuke.**

He was the one that invaded her fantasies, plagued her dreams, and appeared to save her in her nightmares. This was the Uchiha Sasuke that she loved. She pushed all doubts away except one: Could she get him to stop?

He pulled back for a moment of air, catching his breath and let his eyes travel down her half exposed figure. His eyes took in her flat stomach and moved up again, landing on the only material that was still attached to her top half. Her bra.

He was reaching for it, inches before he had a hold on it, she pulled his face back down to hers.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Naruto could _not_ believe his eyes.

He was standing just behind a tree, his eyes wide, watching what was happening before him.

He couldn't believe his own stupidity at following Neji and TenTen into the woods.

He caught up with them and found that Neji had pinned TenTen to a tree, her eyes shut, Neji was kissing her neck…

He turned around to go back to the campsite and stepped on a dry branch that snapped in half with a particularly loud 'CRACK' sound.

He could sense Neji activating the Byakugan. _How embarrassing._

"UZAMAKI!"

Naruto, red-faced, turned to face the angry Hyuga.

"Uhh… Neji… I…"

"Neji," TenTen said, placing a gentle hand on her boyfriend's forearm, "let him go."

Neji was still glaring but stopped taking dangerous steps towards Naruto.

Naruto sighed. Things just weren't going well for him.

**Okay guys, this is where I leave you hanging, ha. I'm totally beat but I'll probably have another chapter or two up this week. I know that Neji and TenTen aren't really a couple, but I really like them together so I made them one. (Just like Shikamaru and Ino. )!!) I still haven't revealed Sakura's true plan. I'm evil, I know. (tehe) Oh, and if I wrote Neji's name in the last chapter, I accidentally spelled it wrong! sorry guys!!**

**So anyway, I hope you liked it. Things seem to be getting heated between Sasuke and Sakura, but I decided to make you wait one more chapter before I really get into it. I hope you can handle it!!**

**--rach**


	5. Interruptions

Title: Stand My Ground

Rating: M for violence, language and later chapters.

Distribution: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

Reviews: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

Disclaimer: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

Main Pairings: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

A/N: I'm dedicating this chapter to HPBabe91 (once again, I love your review the most and yes, I happen to be a Naruto&Hinata fan… I'm gonna write one soon! )

Thump. Squeak. Thump. Squeak. Thump. Thump.

Sasuke pulled away in alarm. He swore, positive that he'd heard the familiar squeaks of the front and back steps. Someone was invading his home. Their home.

"Damn it." He rolled off of Sakura quickly handing her the shirt he had pulled over her head and jumping off the bed, careful this time not to lose the towel. Once he has successfully pulled on a pair of pants and a black shirt, he turned back to Sakura.

Why did everything have to happen like this? He'd been so damn sure that she was going to let him this time.. He'd been to close to taking her… so fucking close… He was pissed. His attention pulled itself back to her. She was staring at him blankly.

"What's going on?"

"Shhh…" He moved quietly over to her, leaning down and whispering in her ear. "There's someone in our cabin."

A sense of relief went through her just to hear him say our, but that quickly went away. Had leaf ninjas found them? Or specifically…Naruto and Kakashi? She'd been dreading the day she'd have to explain that she hadn't been kidnapped.

Her eyes widened. "How do you know?"

She pulled her shirt back over her head just as he put a finger to his lips and signaled for her to listen. She did and heard the quiet creaking of the front door opening, and moments after the creaking of the back door opening. Then the almost silent foot steps towards the bedroom door.

Sasuke knew who it was. He had turned the sharingan on and immediately recognized their chakras.

Her breath caught in her throat the moment the doorknob turned. She momentarily forgot that she was a ninja. She felt as helpless as when she was lying vulnerable unconscious on the bench… suddenly, she was pissed again. She took one look at Sasuke and was fuming. She clutched her weapons, silently ready to take it out on whoever was behind the door.

She took one last look at Sasuke to fuel her rage and noticed that he had picked up a sword from somewhere which he was holding ready at his side. She was almost thankful that they hadn't gotten that far. If they had, she wasn't sure that she would've been able to walk, being a medic-nin she'd seen some... pretty bad 'firsts' so to speak.

The door opened silently, and there stood two of the sound four. Sakon and Tayuya.

Sakura recognized them immediately.

"Ah," Sakon commented lamely, "Just who we wanted to see."

Tayuya smirked, casting a sideways glance at Sakura. Sasuke didn't move.

"I thought I told you guys," he said through clenched teeth, "If I ever saw you again, I'd kill you."

The two sound ninja look amused. Sakon slipped his clod gaze towards Sakura

"What do you want?" Sasuke's voice was dripping with anger.

Sakon smiled. "Her."

Sakura took a surprised unconscious step back. "What do you want with me?"

"Silly girl," Tayuya said dryly, "You're a very powerful medic-nin, are you not?"

Sakura glared at them both her hand clenching and unclenching around a kunai that was in her possession.

"What's it matter?" Sasuke's eyes flickered over the ninjas. "You'll be dead. She can't heal the dead."

"We'll see, Uchiha."

"WAIT!" All eyes landed on the pink haired kunoichi. "We're taking this outside."

--------------------------------------------------

"Hey! Come on!"

"Get away from me, Naruto."

"Pakkun!"

"NO!"

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"NO! Don't touch me!" The dog backed away, "KAKASHI!"

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke next to Pakkun, "Naruto, leave Pakkun alone."

"But...but…"

Kakashi disappeared before he could finish. "Pakkun, you tattle tail, I just wanted to know which way Sasuke and Sakura are, I know you can smell them. Why aren't we going after them?"

"Naruto, I will not say anything about them!" Pakkun turned away before stopping in his tracks. He sighed. "That way," he pointed with his nose. "And hurry up, I smell trouble." When Naruto was gone, Pakkun sighed. "Kakashi is going to kill me for this."

--------------------------------

How Sakura had managed to get them out of the house without wrecking anything irreplaceable, she didn't know. What she did know was that Tayuya was coming at her with her Demon Flute: Illusionary Warriors Manipulating Melody and the three demons were vicious. She avoided a side-swipe, used one of her kunai to slit one of the Doki's throats. With one out of the way, Sakura realized that it wasn't going to be any easier to defeat her. She sighed and moved into a taijutsu stance. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke and Sakon battling furiously, Sasuke shouting profanities and obscenities.

Sasuke moved forward, pushing all of his chakra to use the chidori. He grunted, using a fist to slam Sakon in the face and followed up with an upper cut and a weird flippy thing to get out of the way when Sakon recovered.

"Looks like Ukon might have to come out and play," Sakon shrugged his shoulders. "Ah well, he deserves a little air." Just as he was about to initiate the transformation, the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled his ears. He noticed that Sakura and Tayuya had stopped battling and were staring wide-eyed at something behind him. He turned. This was NOT the chidori he remembered the twelve year old Sasuke having… this was bigger, and louder.

"Fuck."

------------------------------------

Naruto winced as his leg hit a root. He groaned. Stupid Sasuke. Stupid baka!

He wound his way through the trees and rolled his shoulders. It was going to be hard to defeat Sasuke, just as it always had been, but he would do it to get Sakura back. You don't just kidnap one of your ex-teammates!

He gasped as the sound filled his ears.

The Chidori.

--------------

Sorry guys, this is where I leave you! I know it's short—don't worry! I'm working on chapter six! (and also on updating all of my other fics.) The heating up will be in chapter 6! This is my main priority!!

Happy reviewing!!


	6. Obstacle

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Rating:** M for violence, language and later chapters.

**Distribution:** Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews:** Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

**Disclaimer:** I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

**Main Pairings:** Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

**A/N: **Yes, I know that Sakon & Ukon were both killed by Kankurou and Tayuya by Temari but hey, this is a fanfic:) Thank you guys for all of your reviews! (I will update again once the reviews reach 60!)

-----------------------------

"Oh shit." Naruto pused his limits, quickening his pace.

_What's so big that he's using the chidori? Is he going to hurt Sakura-chan? This is bad. This is really bad._

-----------------------

"GET OUT OF THE WAY, ECCHI!" Tayuya shouted, pointing at Sasuke, who was still building the Chidori. Sasuke rushed at him, but Sakon was pushed out of the way by Tayuya.

Once Tayuya was standing up again she looked to Sakon, "Fuck this." Her skin was becoming noticably brown and five horn-like bones began protruding out of her head, her hair was becoming longer, and she turned to grin wickedly at Sakura. "Get ready, bitch."

Sakura braced herself, storing chakra and began to think of a game plan. Her hands began forming seals faster than ever before, and a smile also placed itself on her lips.

"No," She looked at Tayuya, "you get ready." She produced several kunai from out of nowhere and began the blizzard technique. As Tayuya blocked the kunai, the explosive tags attached to them fell to the ground around her and Sakura threw one more, igniting them all.

A loud explosion echoed through the forest.

-----------------------------

Which is what Naruto heard, and made him cringe, "I'm not going to make it!!"

-----------------------------

When the smoke cleared, Tayuya was still standing. She had a few minor burns on her arms, but was still grinning viciously. "_Makyō no Ran!"_ (War Of Evil Men) She began playing her flute, and one of the three destroyed Doki appeared, wobbling it's head at Sakura. Sakura's eyes widened.

"I killed you once, I _will_ kill you again."

Tayuya smiled, and began playing her Demonic Flute again, pausing once to yell,"Dream Sound Chain!"

Sakura had heard about this. The demon was going to trap her and her skin would melt off of her bones while she was still alive. _I am so not looking forward to this..._

She dodged the attack twice before smiling herself, "Oinaru Sakura!" (Great Sakura) A giant sized Sakura appeared over Tayuya, grinning wickedly.

Tayuya grunted, trying to dodge the attack. "IT'S JUST A GENJUSTU!" Sakon yelled from his position across the yard where he was fighting with Sasuke.

Tayuya released herself and smiled back over at the regular Sakura who was panting slightly. "So, you dodged mine, I dodged yours... what do you have left?"

Sakura smiled, and opened her mouth to say something but was interuppted when the chidori was heard again. Both her and Tayuya turned to see Sasuke beelining for Sakon again, and once more, Tayuya jumped to push Sakon out of the way.

Sakura lunged at Sakon who'd already hit the ground, and a blood curling scream bit into his ears.

"TAYUYA!" She was lying on the ground back in her normal state, clutching her stomach, blood dripping from between her fingers. Sasuke was standing over her, a smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry, Sakon," Tayuya said, gasping for breath. "You know I always fucking hated hand to hand. Plan...B..." Sasuke looked down at Tayuya, his eyes blazing red with the sharingan,

"Shouldn't have jumped in the way."

She glared at him, a groan making its way through her parted lips before she went limp.

Sakon was still struggling with Sakura who had healed herself three times already. "Uchiha killed Tayuya, so I'm going to kill you."

"Wasn't the whole point of your mission to catch me?" Three more Sakuras appeared out of nowhere, along with Sasuke. He was still looking pissed and powerful.

"Well, you just changed the plan, bitch."

Sakura frowned at him. "You know, it's not nice to call names.." Two of the Sakura's threw chakra charged punches and neither hit Sakon. He landed behind the Sakura he thought was real and brought the kunai in a smooth line across her throat. The Sakura disappeared and Sakon swore.

All three of the Sakuras winced, and one more disappeared. Both Sakuras spoke at the same time, "We're losing chakra, we won't be able to hold much longer."

Sasuke nodded and went full force for Sakon. They were locked in hand to hand combat for more that five minutes before Sakon saw an opening and began his transformation. Before they could comprehend, Ukon was sticking out of the back of Sakon's head.

"Oh no."

Sakon/Ukon appeared behind another one of the Sakuras, and sliced her throat. She dissapated.

"Only one left," The Ukon side was facing them, Sasuke breathing hard, Sakura shaking slightly.

He appeared behind her. His kunai moving towards her throat, Sakura screamed, and a bright orange blur came out of nowhere and tackled Sakon/Ukon to the ground. Sakura landed on the ground, unmoving just as Sasuke yelled,

"NARUTO!"

--------------------------

"Where'd that fool go?" Neji looked over at Kakashi.

"I just heard an explosion," Pakkun said, his ears perked. "Where'd it come from?"

"I don't know," The Hyuga heir said, his eyebrows raised. "BYAKUGAN!" Looking to the right Neji began to inform them of the scene, leading them in the direction. "It's Naruto, Sasuke, Sakon... and Ukon.. there's a body.. on the ground.. whoever it is isn't breathing... it has.. pink hair..."

"Sakura?" Ino, TenTen and Kakashi asked immediately at the same time, all dreading the answer.

"I can't tell.. it's too far. As we get closer I'll try to focus in on the details."

-------------------------

Naruto landed inbetween Sasuke, Sakon and Ukon with a grunt, rolling to his feet, he looked around. "Sakura-chan!" His eyes were focused on the body that was lying unmoving on the ground. "Sasuke, you teme! Make sure Sakura-chan is okay!"

Sasuke nodded, bent down and turned Sakura over.

----------------------------

"It's not her, it's the member of the Sound Four.. the girl."

"Tayuya?" Kakashi put in.

"Yes, her, Sakura's on the ground too but she's moving. Naruto's got shadow clones out... Okay, not anymore, Sakon and Ukon just transformed... they're using their cursed-seals.."

--------------------------

"Shit."

"Get up, get up," Sasuke was saying, but Sakura's vision was blurry. She shook her head and looked over toward Sakon and Ukon, her eyes widening when she caught sight of...

"NARUTO!"

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto called back, never taking his eyes off of Sakon and Ukon, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, ready to take him down?"

Naruto didn't even have to answer. He lunged at Sakon and Ukon the same time Sasuke and Sakura did. They were all thrown back, but Sasuke, using his sharingan frowns, "He's almost out of chakra."

Before Sasuke or Sakura can attack, Naruto conjured his rasengan. When it was over, Sakon was back in his normal state, lying on the ground, blood running from his mouth.

He grinned up at them. "It's not over."

"Oh no?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"There's more of us. You will die eventually," Sakon slurred the last two words and then he died.

Naruto looked at Sakura before turning his attention to the raven-haired boy. The look on Naruto's face made Sakura's eye twitch.

"AND YOU! WHY I OUGHTA-- YOU KIDNAPPED SAKURA-CHAN YOU NASTY TEME! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!?"

Sasuke visibly sweat dropped. "I didn't kidnap her, Naruto." He looked pointedly over at Sakura. "She came with me."

"Oh, first you're a kidnapper and now you're a liar." Naruto's whole body twitched. "When do you ever stop?"

"Naruto," Sakura began, "Sasuke really didn--"

"You don't have to be strong anymore, I'm here to rescue you, okay, Sakura-chan?"

She could see his eyes shining with pride, waiting for her to say thank you, waiting for her to say something.

_Wow, we're going to break his heart,_ Inner Sakura chimed in, making Sakura twitch as well. _Once we tell him that we went with Sasuke willingly, he's going to be so hurt and so mad, I won't be surprised if he ever talks to us again. But, it's not like we could just let the love of our life go--_ Inner Sakura was cut off by Sasuke,

"Look, Naruto, sorry to dissapoint you, but we have to go."

"Shut up, teme," Naruto said in return, still looking at Sakura.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry. I don't want to hurt you but this is the truth. I went with Sasuke. He didn't kidnap me."

"Wh..What?"

"I'm really sorry, Naruto."

"So am I.." he murmured, his attention turning back to Sasuke. "So what do we do now?"

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"Well, I don't want to fight you, and you're not going to stay here because you and I both know that more of those sound-nin are coming as well as our friends, like Neji, Shikamaru and Kakashi and they _will_ drag you back to Konoha."

Sasuke frowned.

"So I'm going with you guys. I'm gonna make sure you don't hurt Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

Noone said anything.

Sasuke broke the silence. "Lets move."

-------------------------

**Three Hours Later...**

"What do you mean you 'lost them'?" Tsunade asked, glaring intently at Pakkun and Kakashi.

"Well, they are my students, they know how to conceal themselves. Somehow Pakkun couldn't even smell them. We couldn't find Naruto either." Kakashi explained.

"I told him that there was trouble and he went off in the direction of the explosion. After that, I can't say what happened to him." Pakkun said, not looking at Kakashi or Tsunade.

"Well that's just freaking great," Tsunade said, her hand on her forehead. "Uchiha's got my apprentice _and_ Naruto. This is just freaking super."

------------------------------

"So you'll sleep in here," Sakura explained to Naruto, pointing in the spare bedroom of the cabin that Sasuke had led them to. Sakura had been so overwhelmed. She had specifically gotten the fight out of the house only destroying ONE wall for a reason. It was so they didn't destroy her new home. And now she realized that Sasuke was prepared for anything. He had a spare house. News to her.

"Alright." Naruto stopped and turned to her, touching her wrist. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Naruto," She said, sighing. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking." She pulled away from him. "Get some sleep."

As soon as Naruto's head hit the pillow he was out. Sakura rolled her eyes and headed towards the other side of the cabin where Sasuke was waiting in their 'other' bedroom. She was almost nervous. She knew that he was itching to continue from where they were so rudely interrupted, and she wasn't so sure she was ready. But she loved him. So she would do her best to shut off her doubts.

She walked into the bedroom and looked around. It was pitch black. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she gasped. He was leaning against the dresser, his arms folded across his naked torso. She squinted momentarily but couldn't tell if he had any pants on.

Thirty seconds later he was in front of her. She didn't even have a chance to react before he was kissing her. His tongue flicked across her bottom lip, wanting entrance, which she gave him. When they pulled apart for breath, she realized that he had somehow gotten her onto the bed, closed and locked the door and was leaning over her now. Her sea foam green gaze searched his face for emotion. She was surprised when she found that same emotion from before lingering in his eyes. _What is that?_ She asked herself, but didn't have time to think about it when he leaned down and started round two.

This time when they pulled apart, she noticed that her shirt was missing._ How does he do that?_ She wondered, and noticed the smirk on his lips. She leaned up, pushing him over on to his back, and began kissing his chest. When she looked up, she noticed his eyes were closed, and leaned up, placing a kiss on his lips. She moved to go back to work on his chest, but didn't get the chance. He was kissing her again.

His hands wandered her back, taking in all the curves and the feeling of her spine, and he smiled against her.

This is what he'd wanted. And he could _almost_ have this without worry. But then there was _Itachi_. Itachi _always_ ruined everything. He knew he should stop.. but he couldn't bring himself to. He _wanted_ her. He _needed_ her. He _craved_ her. And now he _would_ have her. She would be his, and he wouldn't let anyone else touch her like he was about to be touching her. Not as long as he lived or breathed.

This time, he managed to get the confining contraption off of her body. He flipped her over again, and began to work on her chest. He felt her fingers clench and unclench in his hair. He smiled.

A few minutes later, they were completely free of clothing, and he was staring into her green orbs intently. He blinked as if to ask, 'are you sure?' When she nodded, he leaned down and kissed her, an with one swift smooth movement, he was inside of her.

She closed her eyes and moaned out in pain, as the white hot feeling shook her body. Seconds later it was gone, and she looked up into his eyes again. He looked..._concerned._ She took a deep breath and pulled his head down to hers.

Together, they found a motion and rocked together. Sakura could feel the hot lava flowing through her system, the adrenaline and the feeling of pain replaced by pleasure. She was doing something intimate with the man she'd loved for as long as she could remember. The most intimate thing.

Her moaning was music to his ears. He liked hearing her, he wanted to hear her moans forever. He kissed her again.

Before long, she felt like she was going to explode. Sasuke was panting above her, and she felt like her heart was going too fast, she might never catch up. She finally found her release, and a few seconds later, he found his own. He collapsed on to her chest, both of them panting, trying to catch their breaths.

"Sasuke... I love you," She murmured. When a minute had gone by, and he hadn't said anything, she tensed.

He felt it, and looked up at her. "I love you too," he whispered, laying his cheek back down on her chest. "I love you, too."

--------------------------

"Well, alright, so what is our assignment? I'm not gonna just let that dobe disappear and leave Konoha in turmoil," Shikamaru grumbled. "Why does he have to make everything so troublesome?"

"I don't know," Ino said, her hand on his shoulder. "We'll find him. You can kick his ass while I kick Forehead's all the way across the world."

Shikamaru managed to smile at her. _Maybe not all women are troublesome._

-----------------------------

**WHOOO.. I am.. well. I'm.. hmm. Ha. I hate love scenes. When I have to write them. ;) I'm afraid to know what you guys thought cause I know you were all waiting for it, and I really wanted to write it and I didn't know how to put it down and there it is. It's probably not what you were expecting. :( Review anyway! ha. **

**--rach**


	7. Deadly Dreams

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Disclaimer**: Roses are red, violets are blue, me no own NARUTO so you no sue! (by _Ebil Chameleon_)

**Distribution**: Sure! Just credit and & tell me where it's going!

**Rating:** M

**Feedback:** Please please please!!

**Pairings**: You know what you clicked!

-------------

Naruto groggily walked into the kitchen. It'd been the constant sound of banging that had awakened his from his sleep.

Sakura was sitting at the table, her back to him. Sasuke was standing at the sink, leaning against it with a glass of water in his hand. He looked…annoyed. "Sakura, it's 1:30 in the morning."

"What's going on?" Then he saw that Sakura was calmly eating a bowl of ramen. He ignored the loud growl that came from his stomach.

Sasuke was surprised. He was even more surprised when Naruto went to stand near Sakura, put a hand on her shoulder and asked her seriously, "What's wrong?"

When Sakura didn't say anything, Sasuke studied her carefully. She didn't look upset.

"What are you talking about, dobe?"

Naruto turned, "She's eating ramen, teme."

"So?" He frowned. "She was banging around in here when I got up and as soon as I came in she asked if there was any."

"Can I talk to her alone?" He looked at Sasuke seriously.

"Whatever," Sasuke said immediately becoming pissed off, "She's fine, There's nothing wrong, dobe."

"She eats ramen when she's upset, teme! You'd know that if you knew her!"

"Go to hell." Sasuke spat.

"Save me a seat," Naruto hissed back.

Sakura loudly clanged her chopsticks against the wooden bowl. They both shut up.

"Well?" Naruto said pointedly stared at Sasuke. "Are you going to do this or am I?" He whispered.

Sasuke didn't say anything Naruto walked over and sat next to Sakura.

"What's on your mind?"

Sakura looked up at Naruto, forcing back the tears. "There's hot ramen on the stove. It's okay I know you want some."

Naruto eagerly stood up and Sakura stole a look at Sasuke who was _**apparently**_ staring at her intently. The soreness between her legs became evident. She turned back to her ramen and winced as Sasuke stalked by her and down the hall. She heard the door slam loudly.

"Okay, Sakura." Naruto said quietly sitting down with a large bowl of steaming ramen. "Let's do this."

Sakura finally let the tears flow as she shared her upsetting dream with one of her closet friends.

"And Naruto, I watched him die. It seemed… so real. And all he cares about it that damn revenge. It's going to get him killed."

"So.. In your prophecy dream you watch the teme cheat on you and then is murdered by Itachi?"

Sakura didn't say anything. Just stared at the remaining ramen in her bowl. She took a deep breath.

"Naruto… I think I could be…" She paused. "Pregnant."

Naruto who'd been previously stuffing his face fell off of his chair. He exploded.

"WHAT?! WHY THAT TEME--"

Sasuke appeared in the doorway, paler than before. "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm lying for the hell of it," She said sarcastically. _How could he think I'm lying about something like this?_

"Fuck." He said, going paler.

Naruto looked angrily at Sasuke. "I'm going to bed!" He stomped off towards his room just as Sasuke recomposed himself, "C'mon Sakura."

He helped her out of her chair and led her back to bed.

"But I have to clean up the kit--"

"I'll get it in the morning. We both obviously need some rest."

Sakura nodded remembering how Naruto had left a half-full bowl of perfectly edible ramen sitting on the table. _He's really mad at me…_ He was never one to let ramen go to waste.

"About that dream of yours," Sasuke said interrupting her thoughts. " I would never cheat on you. That is against all of my values and all of my Uchiha values. And dying would mean losing to Itachi. It would also mean leaving you and our possible child alone."

Sakura didn't say anything. She just cuddled into his arms and fell into the bliss that sleep allowed.

When she woke up, she was alone in the room. And as she stood, she winced realizing that she was still tender, and the events of the night before come crashing back. She remembered her conversation with Sasuke, remembered their night of brief passion and then…waking up, the dream. She panicked when she woke up to darkness. There was no one holding her like their had been when she'd fallen asleep, she'd began to think that the dream wasn't a dream at all.. and then she saw him in the moonlight. He had his back to her.

The dream had been about Itachi.. and the part she'd left out when talking to Naruto.. the part when she was raped.. she grimaced.

She couldn't see the face. She didn't want to see the face, even if it was a dream. She'd felt it, all the way to her bones. Her own screams echoing in her ears, the intense pain of the roughness of the person above her, his laughs, his cruel remarks. The one that burned her the most:

_Fucking yariman. _The reason she was most terrified because of the dream: it seemed that most of her bad dreams usually came true.

_**--Flashback--**_

"_Don't go!" but he kept walking. Walking away from her. "If you go I'll scream out loud and--" She sensed him behind her and froze._

"_Sakura," He said a small smirk on his lips, "Arigato."_

_The tears had obscured her vision but she widened her eyes, hearing him. And then the pain came, radiating from the back of her neck… She knew immediately, he was to blame._

"_Sasuke…kun…" __**And then she woke up.**__ She was breathing hard, tears streaming down her face.. "Oh Thank Kami! It was just a dream!" But a few days later, Sasuke had done it. He had left her. Everything went as it had in her dream. Word for Word._

She just had a bad feeling that this dream would come true too. And she wanted to prevent that.

She made her way to the bathroom.

After a hot shower she went into the kitchen. It was clean, as if they hadn't made a mess so early that morning. She looked at the clock it was 3:30. She ate her brunch and went outside to find the guys. They were sparring, both had minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, nothing she needed to break a sweat over. The battle ended in a tie and they both walked over to her.

"Look, Sakura-Chan," Naruto said, glancing nervously at her. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted last night."

Sakura nodded, understanding how bad he felt and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay."

"Sasuke," She said, turning to him. He had his hands in his pockets. "I--"

"Love you." Sasuke finished for her, looking her straight in the eyes.

Sakura gasped. He'd just said it… _In front of NARUTO!_ She quickly turned to see the reaction on her orange-wearing teammate's face. He was staring wide-eyed at Sasuke. She turned back to him when she felt his hand on her shoulder and then, his lips were momentarily on hers before he turned and went into the cabin.

She looked at Naruto. "Not a _word_." Naruto grinned and they both went into the cabin.

-----------------

"So," Ino asked, "Where to?" Kakashi stared at her with his passive expression.

They were setting up camp outside of the cabin that Sasuke and Sakura had been staying in. They'd found woman's clothes, some shirts with the Uchiha fan on the back and the necessities. They'd also found the three bodies. They'd found Ukon and Sakon, who apparently separated from each other when they weren't alive, and Tayuya. But they'd found no leads to bring them to where the old team seven might be residing.

"Pakkun thinks he has a lead," Kakashi said, pulling out Icha Icha Paradise and poking the fire at the same time.

"Oh yeah? You think we'll find them?" TenTen asked, coming out of the woods with more wood.

"Eventually." Kakashi said, going back to his book. The girls looked at each other.

"I'm sure they'll turn up soon," Ino said subconsciously.

"Let me guess," Neji said, he and Shikamaru coming over to the circle. "You're talking about our three missing-nins?"

"Yeah," TenTen said quietly, pulling Neji down next to her to sit on the log.

"They're so troublesome," Shikamaru added, also allowing Ino to pull him down next to her.

They sat there in sad silence.

Kakashi interrupted this with a fake yawn, "We should all get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow."

The four nodded as Ino and TenTen made their way to their tent and Shikamaru and Neji did the same.

Kakashi put the fire out and whispered quietly to the wind, "What could Naruto and Sakura be thinking?"

--------------

"Well I'm thinking that we should go out more often," Naruto said, a grin lighting up his face. "Party or something. Unless it's a danger to me becoming Hokage." Sasuke scoffed but Naruto continued. "I mean, you'll be 18 in a few weeks, right? Me and Sakura are already 18 so we can drink, but it's not like you can't drink now, you have your own cabin and you're already breaking the law. We're all missing-nins."

"I always knew we'd be law breakers," Sakura commented, smiling. Naruto smiled back but Sasuke just raised an eyebrow. "Don't give me that," She said playfully smacking his chest. She turned and went into the kitchen to cook something to eat.

She learned that she kind of liked cooking. Especially for her two favorite guys. Naruto was her best guy friend and Sasuke was her… was her uh… She paused. _What are we?_ The question echoed in her mind. _We're not married, or dating or friends, really. What are we?_

She made a mental note to ask him. She finished making dinner and set it on the table. By the time the boys were eating, it was still getting to her. She wanted to ask him immediately but two things stopped her.

The first, was Naruto. If she asked him something personal in front of him, he might not answer her or get mad. Or both. But then the kiss from earlier sprang into her mind. _Was it just me, or did he seem like he was 'claiming' me?_ The second, she knew he wasn't much of a talker. Especially with dinner on the table. It was an Uchiha tradition. Small talk, no conversations at the dinner table. She wrinkled her nose. Some things were going to have to change.

She suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. She sighed inwardly, excused herself and silently cleared her plate before walking down the hall to the bedroom, totally missing the small exchange between her two living partners.

When she got to the bedroom, she decided she wanted a bath. She went into the master bath, started the water and silently undressed. She grimaced at the three scars she could see in the mirror. One was on her shoulder. Nothing major. Another one was across the back of her calf from a rouge ninja who thought he could take her, and the last was a small scar on her wrist. It wasn't very noticeable. Unless you were Tsunade, Naruto or Sakura. She flinched at the memory before realizing that the tub was full. She turned off the water and slid in, relaxing in the warmth of the water. She could hear Naruto and Sasuke sparring again outside, Naruto calling Sasuke a 'teme' and Sasuke shouting profanities back. She shut them out and closed her eyes.

_**Where am I?**__ She thought, she wasn't in the bathtub relaxing anymore, that was obvious. Her vision was cloudy. _

"_SASUKE? NARUTO?" No answer. "GUYS?" The sound of something scuffling around caught her attention. She got into a defensive stance and looked around, trying to see through the thick darkness. Someone was laughing at her, and not the joking kind. She knew the laugh but couldn't place it… until she saw the red-eyes that possessed the mangekyo sharingan._

_She screamed, running in the opposite direction until she tripped over something. The darkness wasn't as thick here and she could see what it was._

"_NARUTO!" She cried, shaking him. She ignored the way his open eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling and the puddle of blood pooled around his head. She could feel the tears streaming down her face. He touched his cheek. He was cold. She would've stayed next to his body longer except that the laughing of her pursuer was getting closer. _

"_Sakura, no," She heard Sasuke in front of her, and ran to him. He was chained to a wall, bleeding badly. "Run, Sakura," he said, weakly. "Please."_

"_Sasuke, no, I won't leave you," she said, trying to heal him. For some reason she couldn't access her chakra, she was sobbing._

_That's when he grabbed her from behind. Itachi. His eyes blank. He laughed at her and pushed her down onto something hard. She felt the clamps snap around her wrists and the way his nails sunk into the skin on her ankles while she struggled against him. Her ankles snapped into the clamps._

_She could hear Sasuke's shouts, water was dripping somewhere… the cruel laughter coming from the Akatsuki member._

"_NO!" She screamed as he began to tear at her clothes. Suddenly, her mouth filled with water and she started to choke, gasping for air and…_

She opened her eyes.

She was back in the bathroom, pushed against something hard… and masculine. She was naked and still in the bathtub. There was a hand on her back. She sighed with relief when she realized who the owner of the hand was.

Jade met onyx once again.

"You were screaming and by the time I got in here you were drowning…" His voice was shaky.

She realized he was soaking wet from jumping into the bathtub to save her. From a dream. A dark red tinge coated her cheeks. "Don't ever do that again."

She was confused. "Fall asleep in the bathtub?"

"Almost die on me."

She didn't say anything. Despite they were both in the bathtub, Sasuke fully dressed and Sakura still panting, a single thought came to her mind.

"What are we?"

--------------

Awkward!! Haha, REVIEW! What'd ya think? I don't really know if I like this chapter, lol.

I hoped you enjoyed! (And Sasuke asks in the next chapter how she knew she was pregnant so soon after, in case you were wondering…)

Cheers!

-rach


	8. Together

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M for violence, language and later chapters.

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

**Disclaimer**: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

**Main Pairings**: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

**A/N**: This chapter is more _dramatic_ than my other ones, Sakura overreacts and her thoughts get out of hand (it was intended) and you'll see why. Remember that Sakura and Sasuke don't know what each other is thinking… Sorry that this chapter took so long! I had a really terrible writer's block. Chapter is dedicated to… Ebil Chameleon!! my bestestttt pal for updating her gaara/sakura fic… The 1st song is called "Up Against The Wall" by Boys Like Girls 2nd song is "Somewhere" by within temptation

--------------------------

"What?" he was holding her body up just out of the water.

"What are we?" She repeated. Her voice was raspy, her throat still burning from choking on the warm water.

He looked down at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Us," She said, firmly, "What am I to you?"

He stared at her for a moment before gently placing her back in the bathtub and stepping out. He took off his sandals, shirt and soaking wet pants before grabbing two towels from the shelf, removing his boxers and placing one around his waist. He motioned for her to move forward, which she did and he wrapped the towel around her. Then he moved to leave the bathroom.

"Are you going to answer me?" she asked. He could hear the water making a sloshing noise and she took a step closer to the edge of the tub. He stopped walking and heard her get

out. "Sasuke?"

_**It's over, look out below I'm wasted, I still taste it Yeah it's so hard to let go So breathe in now, and breathe it out The forecast; A car crash It's looking like another **_

He took a deep breath and left the bathroom. She sighed and sat down on the edge of the tub and thought about her possible pregnancy. She was suddenly unsure of what she wanted. For herself and for her baby. _Maybe I made a mistake…_

She didn't really know at this point. She did know that she didn't want to have kids with a man who wasn't willing to communicate with her. To listen to her when she talked.

_**And I can't deny your eyes You know I try to read between the lines, I saw a warning sign And then you threw me up against the wall **_

_Okay, that's partially a lie_, she frowned. _Even if Sasuke is like that I do want to be the mother of his children. _

She wanted that very much. But could she do it? He had totally avoided her question. Sure, she'd always been under emotional pressure with Uchiha Sasuke around. It had always

been that way. **Always**. But now, he was ignoring her.

_Does he think I'm his whore?_

She widened her eyes at that thought.

_Okay, that's a little overboard there_, Sakura. She told herself. She wanted to scream. She wasn't his whore, she wasn't anyone's whore. Another thought crossed her mind: but wasn't she?

She hadn't stopped him, that's for damn sure. She wasn't even sure she could've… but she didn't really want to try. She had wanted this. She had wanted this with him. She hadn't thought of the consequences, she hadn't stopped him and now she could be pregnant. She was pretty sure. She was a medic-nin after all. She knew the immediate signs of a pregnancy. She took a deep breath. There were really only a few ways to be positive. A pregnancy test. A blood test in a lab. The byakugan, and the sharingan.

_Crap._

She'd forgotten about the sharingan being able to tell if you were pregnant or not. Obviously Sasuke didn't know about it either.

She glared angrily at the bathroom wall before standing up and going into the bedroom to get dressed. And then had fallen asleep on their bed. When she had woken up, It wasn't daylight anymore. She had gone back into the bathroom to comb her hair. When she had come out, she'd seen Sasuke standing in the doorway. She moved to brush past him, into the hallway, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Let go of me."

"Sakura," Sasuke looked right into her emerald orbs, something he hadn't really made a show of doing before. "We need to talk."

TALK!? Inner Sakura screamed. HE WANTS TO TALK!? WE'LL SHOW HIM TALKING!! KICK HIM TO THE CURB! CHA!

"Remove your hand from my wrist," She said, clearly annoyed.

He did as he was asked, but blocked her exit. "I mean it. We need to talk about this."

"Talk about _what_, Sasuke? I wanted to _talk_ earlier." She tried once again to push past him. He got mad.

Pushing her up against the wall, "About us."

"Us?" He didn't say anything. She pushed out of his hold and hastily made straight for the door.

"Sakura, don't."

She was suddenly nervous. Should she call for Naruto?

"Excuse me?" She turned to face him.

"We need to talk about this. What we're going to do."

"What do you mean 'what we're going to do'? I'm keeping the baby."

"If you're actually pregnant." He watched the color drain from her face. _Okay, Maybe I went too far…_

Inner Sakura pounced. WHAT THE!!! IF HE THINKS HE CAN TALK TO US THAT WAY- 

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"She looked like she'd been slapped.

"You said you only thought."

"Well!" She was obviously furious. "If you weren't such a god damn idiot you'd have used your sharingan already and you'd be able to tell!" She was glaring, her shoulders shaking. She turned her back on him and began to walk away.

And _damn_, did she make it look easy. He must have made it look easy, too.

_No rewinds, no second times And I won't break, I won't waste Everything you left behind So don't follow, just let it go The weather's been better So let it be another _

She turned back, her heart in her mouth. "One more question." She paused and took a deep breath, "Why does it always hurt when you're around?"

She didn't get a chance to leave again because before she could even turn around he was in front of her again.

_Lost in the darkness, hoping for a sign. Instead there is only silence, can't you hear my screams? Never stop hoping, Need to know where you are, but one thing is for sure, you're always in my heart. (start of Somewhere)_

Kissing her, enveloped in his arms, all of her doubts were washed away again.

"We can't…" Her protest was halted with another searing kiss that left her breathless. "I'm sorry," She said, hugging him.

"Don't be."

"I'm crazy, I always mess it up."

"No you don't. It was my fault anyway."

_I'll find you somewhere. I'll keep on trying until my dying day. I just need to know whatever has happened, the truth will free my soul. Lost in the darkness, try to find your way home. I want to embrace you and never let you go. Almost hope you're in heaven so no one can hurt your soul. Living in agony cause I just do not know where you are._

"Together."

"What?" She was confused, dazzled.

"Your question. What are we. Together."

For now, she was content with that. Until Naruto crashed into the bedroom, his eyes wide, and even wider when he saw Sasuke pushing her up against the wall again, pressing into her.

"Holy shit."

"NARUTO!" Sakura shrieked and ran to the bathroom, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

"SORRY!" Naruto smacked a hand over his eyes, "BUT THERE'S SOMEONE COMING!"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke's full attention was on Naruto. Sakura peeked her head out of the bathroom.

"I mean Akatsuki someone!"

Sasuke looked grim.

"Take Sakura and get out of here. No matter what, protect her."

"HEY!" Sakura began to protest again. "I can fight for myself."

"You said that I could see our baby's chakra and just because I didn't know about that little detail doesn't mean that Itachi doesn't."

-----------------------

Wow. I really hated this chapter. Like nothing happened, I know. But like I said, WRITERS BLOCK! But don't worry!! I will be updating again this week! I have some ideas suddenly finding their ways out of my brain. YAY for IDEAS!! Lol. Review my pretties!!!

-rach


	9. The Genjutsu

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M for violence, language and later chapters.

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

**Disclaimer**: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

**Main Pairings**: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

**A/N**: Well, I LOVE YOU GUYS (for starters) So I'm updating A.S.A.P!

--------

_**Enter: Akatsuki**_

"He's close," Itachi grumbled, looking cross eyed at his companion. She was medium height, Blonde hair and had a pair of dark blue eyes that had a murderous look.

"Good. I can't wait to meet him," She mused, her eyes twinkling. "And I can't wait to meet the others either."

The giant fox she was riding on let out a growl and lurched forward. "Junior can't wait either."

Itachi said nothing, just looked forward, his hat jingling and his red cloud covered robe flittering with the wind they were creating.

He sighed. Sometimes, this woman was too much. He just wanted to kill her and be done with it.

The words flashed in his head. _"You know your mission, Itachi. Bring her to the boy. If you harm her, there will be hell to pay. Do you accept?"_

"_Hn."_

The sooner this mission was complete, the better.

---------

"You know what?!" Sakura shoved Naruto away. "I'm sick of this! I'm not leaving Sasuke here!"

Sasuke came out of their bedroom with a bag. "Yes, you are."

"No I'm not. I won't leave you here to die at the hands of that monster! I won't let this baby grow up without a father!"

Sasuke stared at her. "Who said I'm going to die? I'm glad to know you have so much confidence in me, Sakura."

Her face reddened. "Sorry."

"Now go," Sasuke handed Naruto the bag.

"I said I'm not leaving." He ignored her. When Naruto's arm came towards her to take her arm, she turned around and slapped him. "I SAID NO!"

Naruto backed up.

"I can fight! I'm not a weak little girl anymore Sasuke. Either you're coming, or I'm staying. I'm not going to give you the 'knock out' choice this time." She saw the guilty look in his eyes. Hopefully he was falling prey to her plan.

"Look, Sakura. He could kill you and the baby. Is that what you want?"

She didn't answer him. He shook her by her shoulders. "IS IT?"

"Don't fucking start with me, mister," she said, her voice dripping with anger. "I'm staying. That's it. Now I hope we're all ready for a fight."

That said, the back door was ripped off its hinges.

------------------

"So, they've made contact?" Tsunade was sitting at her desk, looking intently at the ANBU ninja in front of her.

"Yes, Hokage-sama, we believe so. The last transmission we got from Team Kakashi said that they were close to a genjutsu. They haven't made contact since then but I don't think there's any reason to worry."

"Alright. What about our ANBU trailing Uchiha Itachi?"

"He picked up a blonde girl from a hidden village we've never heard of. We haven't received contact from them in about a week. I don't want to say this but I think that he's assassinated our trackers."

"Alright. Thanks for the data. I want updates every few hours."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"You are excused."

---------

"Look Tenten, I'm really sorry!"

Tenten looked over at Ino with flames in her eyes. "You pushed me into a river, Ino."

Ino sweat dropped. "But I didn't mean it, I swear! It was Shikamaru's fault. I didn't know that you were behind that bush with Neji--"

"NOT another WORD." Ino shut her mouth. She really didn't want the weapon master to be mad at her. She was afraid that she'd have to start sleeping with the nin-dogs and a kunai.

The accident had happened during the break they'd taken hours before. Pakkun had insisted on it, whilst he went on ahead to detect danger. It had all started with Kakashi's mention of some training. But because there were such small clearings, and not enough space to do a sparring session for four, Ino and Shikamaru had gone first. They'd been pretty evenly matched, knowing each other's moves. (A/N: They were on the same team for a long time!)

Shikamaru had trapped her with his shadow possession jutsu just as Ino had preformed her mind-transfer jutsu. They had both gotten out of it, and just as they both got their own bodies back, Shikamaru tried to pull a fast one and throw a bunch of senbon at her. She had dove behind the nearest bush. Behind that particular bush, Neji and Tenten had been tangled in an intense tongue battle and Ino had found herself right in the middle of it. Well, more off to the side and she had landed like right next to Tenten. The couple had jumped apart causing Tenten to trip over Ino (who was laughing hysterically, rolling around on the ground) and fall into the river behind them.

And Tenten had been mad ever since. She could really hold a grudge.

Ino sighed and heard Shikamaru ask Neji if he could see anything.

Neji activated the byakugan. When he stopped, the rest of the group did as well.

"There's a very big genjutsu activated up ahead. Pakkun's chakra is inside of it. Either he created it, or he triggered it. I'm not sure. There's two chakras there with him that I don't recognize."

The four nodded.

"Let's approach with caution," Kakashi said quietly, and they all split up into formation, because 'approach with caution' in Kakashi language meant, 'dispel genjutsu, kill target if necessary, and don't die'.

----------

Itachi stood in the door way, his expression unfazed.

"He lives here?" Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto couldn't tell who was speaking but it wasn't Itachi.

Itachi stepping inside, "It seems so."

The three previously arguing ninja moved back a step and watched as Itachi looked around and right past them. Sasuke frowned, and he said quietly, "He can't see us."

Itachi moved forward into the kitchen and out of sight. A blonde woman stepped through the door way. Naruto sucked in a breath.

"Naruto," Sakura said quietly, "Isn't that your mom?"

---------------

The five ninja came upon the cabin. There was no one in sight.

"Pakkun?" Ino called, only to have Shikamaru's hand slapped over her mouth.

"What do you think you're doing, woman?!" He whispered.

Her voice was muffled, "I'm trying to find Pakkun."

Shikamaru removed his hand. "If the people here weren't aware of us, they are now."

That said, a blonde woman wearing a light purple robe came out from behind the cabin, stomping furiously towards the five ninja. Itachi followed slowly after, looking bored as usual.

"Good job, Ino," Shikamaru grumbled.

"Sorry," she said, getting into a defensive stance. The others did the same.

Three words came out of Kakashi's mouth that only the four with him could hear. "Team seven genjutsu."

---------

_**Five Minutes earlier…**_

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto remained frozen in place.

"What do you mean they can't see us?" Sakura answered, still eyeing the blonde woman. She seemed disinterested in her surroundings.

"He means that they can't see you," a deep voice came from behind her, "they're under my genjutsu."

"Pakkun?" Sakura was staring at the nin-dog. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for you, of course. You're going to have to help me out because this genjutsu's using up all of my chakra. I'm too weak to walk."

"Right." Sakura moved over to the dog and picked him up, getting closer to the window. She turned just as the blonde woman swore and ran out of the cabin, followed closely by Itachi.

She then heard the words, "MIND TRANSFER JUTSU!" and scrambled towards the window.

"Shikamaru, Ino, Kakashi, Neji and Tenten are here," She said, watching the battle. "They're fighting Itachi, and he looks pretty bored." She realized she was talking to herself when the two boys were suddenly outside trying to join the fight.

"Damn it," She cursed and ran after them.

-------------

"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade jumped up, trying to sober herself out of her drunken stupor.

"What is it?"

"They've made contact, we're positive. There seems to be a battle going on. One of Kakashi's nin-dogs is here updating on the mission. He wants to speak with you."

"A freaking DOG?"

"uhhmm, hai Hokage-sama, he wants to see you right away."

"Alright. Fifteen minutes. This had better be good."

------------

**Hmm! It's only Wednesday! Depending on the amount of reviews… MAYBE I'll update AGAIN! I love you all!!!**

**-rach**


	10. The Third Stage

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M for violence, language and later chapters.

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Love 'em. I don't really like flames, but then, no one really does.

**Disclaimer**: I do _own_ NARUTO, and if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so cold.

**Main Pairings**: Sasu&Saku, Naru&Hina, Ten&Neji, Ino&Shika

**A/N**: Even I know that Naruto doesn't know his parents. (Poor Orphan Naruto..) It's not his mom, as will be revealed in this chapter! I love you all! REVIEW!! And Buta means Pig. :)

-------------------

Sakura was pissed. How dare they leave her in the house like that!? She ran outside, still clutching Pakkun to her stomach in an awkward fashion that he was grumbling about. Once in the presence of Naruto and Sasuke she loudly declared, "I HATE MEN!" Before scrambling over to Kakashi with Pakkun. Of course, Kakashi couldn't see them.

"Pakkun, you have to release the genjutsu or we can't fight."

"That's precisely why I activated it."

"PAKKUN!" The nin-dog twitched. "Alright, alright."

The genjutsu was released and Sasuke was standing directly behind Itachi. Itachi turned casually around, greeting Sasuke with a, "Hello little brother."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and held his arm out. Blue chakra was swirling in his palm, growing into a huge ball. The same size that had killed Tayuya.

Kakashi's eye widened in shock before understanding immediately.

Sakura put the pup on a boulder next to Kakashi before running over to join in on the fight. "I knew you were holding it," he said to Pakkun. "Why'd you release it?"

He frowned looking directly at Sakura. "I'm out of chakra and she threatened me."

"Oh." He paused, "I need to send you back to Konoha. You can regain your strength there and update Tsunade. I sent one of the others, but you probably know more."

The weak nin-dog nodded and Kakashi poofed him away in a cloud of smoke.

Sakura was staring at him.

Itachi laughed at her, "Well, well, well. Good job little brother."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and launched another attack at him, which he blocked with some difficulty. He smiled slyly when he realized Itachi was weakening.

Itachi eyed Naruto and said quietly, "Mission complete."

The woman nodded at this comment and advanced towards Naruto. For some odd reason, Naruto couldn't get his legs to move. He was beginning to worry. Then, out of nowhere, Ino's body came barreling at him, tackling him to the ground, Tenten doing the same to his attacker.

The blonde stood up, the murderous look never leaving her eyes. "That wasn't nice."

She formed hand signs and a purple bubble about 20ft wide spread over the space, entrapping Tenten and herself inside the barrier.

Tenten, pulling four shuriken out of her robe, never took her eyes off of the enemy. She threw one of her shuriken at the barrier and watched out of the corner of her eye as it touched the barrier causing a static shock and landed on the ground smoking, still inside the barrier. Tenten mentally winced.

The blonde moved forward, launching several weapon-based attacks at Tenten, who successfully avoided all of them, being a weapon's master herself. Tenten managed to get some distance between them and sent several kunai with exploding tags at the blonde.

There was an explosion when they hit the ground around her, but when the smoke cleared she was still standing. Ino, Shikamaru, Neji and Sakura who were all working on the barrier could tell she had done some damage. She staggered towards Tenten, bleeding, the rage still in her eyes.

Suddenly, there were shadow clones everywhere and they moved quickly, ambushing Tenten. Naruto, who'd been fighting alongside Sasuke and Kakashi against Itachi, gawked. Shadow clones!

Neji, who was still working on the barrier had to painfully watch his girlfriend fly into a tree trunk and hit with a sickening 'thud'. They waited. She didn't get up. He began pounding harder on the barrier with the branch he'd found.

Shadow clones appeared outside the barrier and advanced towards Sakura who was working on the other side of the barrier. Naruto intervened with several taijutsu moves and the clones dissipated.

Sakura turned in time to see Kakashi fly past her head from one of Itachi's attacks. She ran to heal him, after which he got back up and went back after Itachi. Tenten finally struggled to her feet, bleeding from her forehead and the corner of her mouth. She looked pissed.

She smiled as she formed several hand seals, attacking the blonde. The barrier disappeared. Tenten was knocked several feet back and Neji ran to her, followed closely by the pink haired medic-nin.

Ino and Shikamaru were left to fight the woman.

--------------------------------

"What happened from there?" Tsunade was getting bored of interrogating the nin-dog. She was just about to ask another question when there was a small puff of smoke and Pakkun was lying casually on her desk. She let out a small shriek. "What the hell! Pakkun!"

"Konichiwa, Tsunade-sama."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to update you on what's going on. Itachi and the woman that he picked up from the unknown village have located Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. So has the retrieval team. They're fighting now as we speak."

"Who's fighting who?"

"I believe it was Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi against Itachi and Neji, Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura and Tenten against the blonde."

"Shouldn't they have defeated her by now?"

"Yes, but she's more powerful than we believed her to be."

"Does Naruto know who she is?"

"Sakura asked if it was Naruto's mother. Is it?"

"No. It's not."

--------------------

"This is awkward," Ino said, still waiting for the woman to make a move.

"Not to mention troublesome."

"I think she's crazy," Ino said, still watching her.

The comment set her off. She turned on Ino. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, BUTA!"

Ino's face turned red. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME A PIG!" She would've run at her if Shikamaru weren't holding on to her arm.

Itachi was laughing at Sasuke. "Your attempts are in vain, little brother. You are still too weak. Nothing has changed."

Sasuke didn't like what he was hearing. That was obvious to Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura who had now come to join the fight with Itachi. Right now, Sasuke was forming hand signs that Kakashi didn't recognize. From the look on Itachi's face, he didn't recognize them either.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized what Sasuke's intentions were. He was using the curse seal. But Orochimaru was dead… how was it still working? He watched Sasuke transforming before his eyes. The wing-hands sprouted from his shoulders, his hair grew longer and the black star on his nose became visible. Naruto recognized this as stage two of the curse seal. But it didn't stop there. He kept going. This was a level no one had reached before. The risk was higher than fifty percent that Sasuke would be consumed by it if he used it too long. But Sasuke knew that. He knew all the risks. And he was willing to take them, as long as he killed Uchiha Itachi.

--------

Hmph. I'm kinda ticked right now. I don't know when I'm going to be able to update next because of this anger issue I'm having. I'm supposed to be going to this concert in a few weeks. In order to go, I have to miss a school day. He is being retarded and won't let me go if I have to miss a school day even though I've only missed like THREE out of the entire year. He's a bummer.

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I'll be updating A.S.A.P! No worries. I won't let my father spoil out FF!**

**--rach**


	11. Their Return

1**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Pairings:** SasuxSaku, NaruxHina, ShikaxIno, TenxNeji

**Disclaimer:** Me no own NARUTO!

**Distribution:** same as all the other chapters!

**A/N: **Yes, Itachi does know about the baby. But it doesn't really matter. Sakura shows her true colors! She is in control! WOOT! Girl Power! Oh, and look at me updating. Yeah. Go me. I should get some kudos, ne? Lol. 'Nani?' means 'What?'

-----------------

Itachi stared blankly as Sasuke transformed. Still expressionless, he began to wonder, _This is my brother?_

He watched Sasuke's wings twitch and grasp at the air. The star on his nose now had more prongs and his hair was longer than it was in stage two. His fingernails were a black-blue color and they were razor sharp.

Itachi silently made a note to stay away from those. Still watching calmly, Itachi thought of when they were little. Sasuke had been so naive. He carried an innocence with him wherever he went and he'd been just so pure... so.. _Untouched_ by the world. Itachi had to change that. And he had. He'd showed his little brother power, the lust for it, and for blood. The exhilarating feeling.

A smirk placed itself on his thin lips as he thought of what he'd seen a few minutes before when the genjutsu was released. There was a swirling little blue Uchiha chakra in the pink haired kunoichi's belly. Oh, how he'd like to gut her. His little brother was trying to revive their clan. But, sadly, he couldn't do anything about it.

Because he knew.

As he watched Sasuke transform, he knew. His little brother had finally achieved his greatest ambitions. He was reviving the Uchiha clan. And, he was about to successfully murder Uchiha Itachi. He had _finally_ surpassed his older brother.

Itachi found that it didn't really bother him. Death. It had been evident that Sasuke would be the one to kill him. That was his plan.

And here it was, all coming together.

He watched in anticipation of his brother's next move. It finally came, Sasuke forming several hand signs at a speed that even the sharingan couldn't keep up with, which just plain out impressed the eldest Uchiha prodigy. A doppelganger Sasuke had appeared beside the real one, both equipped with the third stage of the curse. He heard the cherry blossom gasp, realizing that this would put her precious Sasuke more at risk than he was already, to lose himself. Itachi smirked again, and finally let the smirk form into a small smile as both Sasuke's came at him with blue swirling chidoris.

**XxX**

"So who is she, then?" Pakkun waited while Tsunade gulped down half her bottle of sake before whispering an answer to him.

"She's the original Kyuubi vessel."

Pakkun stared at her blankly, "Nani?"

"That woman was believed to be dead by Yondaime. She's got to be about thirty-two now, then. We all believed her to be dead because of the attack that the Kyuubi launched at us in his true form. His spirit form. Since he was no longer in her body, we assumed she was dead."

Pakkun shook his head, "The ORIGINAL kyuubi vessel?"

"Yes," Tsunade said quietly. "Or possibly the reincarnation of."

**XxX**

Itachi caught both chidoris. Sasuke's face did not change. He pulled his arm back, the clone dissipating. He finally realized. He needed teamwork to weaken Itachi. He needed Naruto's rasengan.

He looked over at Naruto, signaling for him to attack. Naruto shouted, several hundred clones all ambushing Itachi. Sasuke appeared, his big wings grabbing hold of Itachi's left arm and snapping it. Naruto's rasengan came out of nowhere, Itachi blocked it, only to realize seconds too late that it had been a diversion. The ground crumbled underneath him and he looked up, seeing the bubble-gum haired kunoichi grinning at him, her fist still touching the dry, baked earth.

Itachi looked surprised, but jumped out of the small crater and right into Sasuke's chidori. The sound of two hundred screaming Naruto clones had drowned out the noise, but there it was, the chirping. Itachi felt it bite into him. But he didn't care. He swung angrily at the dark form of his younger brother.

Itachi's mind screamed at him in panic. He'd been wrong. Death bothered him. He did not want to die yet.

Sasuke smirked realizing that Itachi was no longer in his right mind. The eldest Uchiha was fighting in panic. It dawned on Sasuke that Itachi was afraid of dying.

Naruto's rasengan was in the left side of Itachi's chest. Itachi looked unfazed, before falling to the ground at Sasuke's feet. He looked up at Sasuke slowly, through blood shot eyes.

And then Itachi congratulated him. "Good job, brother. You have finally surpassed me. Just as I had planned."

And that had been said with his last breath. Itachi was dead. Uchiha Itachi. Dead.

But Sasuke's blood was still boiling. He turned, glaring mercilessly at Naruto, still looking for a fight.

"FIRE: Phoenix flower jutsu!" His attack was much more powerful than usual, because his chakra limit had expanded.

Naruto dodged the attack and Sasuke had lunged to the side to block his escape when he heard Sakura yell.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto shouted, making a move towards her. "SASUKE-TEME! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

One of his hand wings had smacked her and sent her flying into a tree trunk. He watched her stand up. There were angry tears in her eyes. Sasuke didn't seem to notice.

Deeming she was okay enough to stand, he turned his back on her, facing Naruto. He could only hear the adrenaline pounding in his ears. He was starting to forget everything but his name. And that Uchiha Itachi was finally dead. He wanted to kill. He wanted to test his power.

He began to form hand signs when something jumped in front of him. Two small pale, bleeding hands placed themselves on top of his, making him stop forming hand signs. He pulled his hands away quickly, and watched as the hands dropped to the owners sides. Her pink skirt had a small rip in it, and there was blood running down her nicely chiseled calf. On the top of her left hand was a deep cut, and there was a small gash just above her right peach eyebrow. There were silent tears running down her cheeks. She uttered two words, "Stop it."

He moved to push her aside and she slapped him.

Naruto, Kakashi (Ino and Tenten as well, who had come over to help because Shikamaru had trapped the blonde with his shadow possession and Neji watched her with the byakugan just in case) all gaped at the scene in front of them.

"Do you want to be stuck like that?!" She screamed at him. "If you don't stop you'll kill all of us and lose yourself!" When he didn't respond, she reached up her pale bleeding hand and smacked him again. "_Wake up,_ Sasuke."

She sighed, and fell to her knees from the exhaustion. Pregnant people weren't supposed to be under this much stress. "Please... if you don't... you mise well just kill me now, Sasuke-kun."

He began to revert back. His wings folded up and pushed back into his shoulder blades. His hair gradually began to shorten until it was back into its normal state, the chicken butt style. (**A/N**: Personally, I like the chicken butt style on Sasuke-kun. Hehe.)

His skin became paler and paler until it was back to its normal color. Eventually, he was back to his normal state, and with an apology already on his lips, he collapsed next to Sakura, his head landing gracefully in her lap. He was out cold from the stress and exhaustion. Everyone except Naruto was staring at them in confusion.

Kakashi moved forward as if to remove Sasuke, but Naruto grabbed his arm just as Sakura opened her mouth to snap at him.

"Does anyone need healing?" No one did. "Okay. Kakashi, go do something about blondie," Sakura said quietly. "Naruto, can you double check and make sure Itachi's not breathing?"

Sakura was taking control.

Naruto and Kakashi both nodded and went to do what was asked as Ino and Tenten moved towards her. Ino watched as her pink haired friend ran a hand through the youngest (and as of the moment, the only living, born) Uchiha's sweaty raven hair. She knew. Ino wasn't stupid. Despite the fact that she and Sakura had grown to hate each other over this boy, now man, she knew. Sakura had won. Sakura was the one who'd really loved him all along. Ino smiled gently down at her. "You okay, Sakura?"

She nodded and smiled tiredly at them. "Can you guys help me?"

A few minutes later, Sakura and Sasuke were sleeping peacefully in their bed.

**XxX**

It had taken two days to get back to The Hidden Leaf Village instead of one because they were all so exhausted.

The first night they'd stayed in Sasuke's cabin, all relieved and reassured that Sasuke wouldn't just take off. Sakura had been the one to assure them.

Tenten and Ino had taken Naruto's bed whilst Naruto and Shikamaru lazily argued about which two would get the pull out couch, not realizing that Neji had already taken the arm chair and Kakashi had claimed a small cushion chair across from the couch.

Sakura had woken up a little while after she'd laid down. Sasuke had still been out cold, and she'd gotten up to see about the sleeping arrangements.

She'd found that they were all sleeping. Going over to Naruto, she quietly shook him awake, asking to speak with him. It was about two in the morning. In the end, he agreed to not talk of her pregnancy, nor of the events of the last few weeks. During that time, she and Sasuke had made up a plan.

"Telling Tsunade-sama that you willing became a missing-nin hurts your chances of ever becoming Hokage." Sakura said quietly. "So Sasuke and I decided two days ago that he would take the heat."

"What?" Naruto looked deeply confused.

"I'm gonna tell them I kidnapped you, dobe," Sasuke appeared in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the frame.

"But, you'd be lying," Naruto said slowly.

Sakura shook her head, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to lessen his charge. I'm Tsunade's apprentice. I'm pretty sure I can talk her into a small charge, if any, and bring out the good in this."

They heard someone groan in the living room. Kakashi walked in, rubbing his visible eye. He looked at his former students, eyeing Sasuke a bit longer than the others. They boy looked stronger. He was definitely a man, now.

"Ready to go back home?" He asked.

To his surprise, even Sasuke had nodded.

**XxX**

The second they'd walked through the gates, two ANBU had jumped down to greet the group, immediately telling Sasuke that he was to be brought to the Hokage's office. Sakura had waved them off, telling them that she, Naruto, Kakashi and the rest of the retrieval team would be escorting him, _thank you very much_. The two ANBU had nodded, closing Konoha's gates behind them.

With the entire retrieval team, including the nin-dogs, and the former team seven, Tsunade's office was cramped.

She stared at Sasuke with little reserve and hard eyes. He stared back, expressionless, as usual. She demanded that he was to be under house arrest, under the surveillance of any member of the retrieval team or the former team seven, at all times. For an entire month. At the end of the month, a trial would be held for him, along with two members of Hebi that had followed his orders to go back to Konoha, which were Karin and Jugo. The two had appeared a week prior, claiming that the youngest Uchiha had sent them. They were currently still under surveillance. Jugo had been placed in a facility that was as close to 'homey' as one could get. Nothing sharp or dangerous was allowed in the facility, and Tsunade was still working on a way to cure him of his mood swings. (To kill or not to kill, that is always the question.)

Karin had been placed in an apartment close to the Hokage's office so that Tsunade could keep an eye on her. Tsunade had told her to think about getting her hair evened out. So far, the two hadn't caused any trouble.

Sakura and Sasuke were told that Sasuke would not get the death penalty, but may have to serve time. Sasuke hadn't said anything, just remained expressionless. Sakura, however had twitched. She had been let off completely, although she admitted that she had gone with Sasuke at her own will.

Sasuke had been sent off with Naruto to spend the night and Sakura had gotten into a fierce argument with Tsunade.

She had finally agreed to lower the charges because Sasuke had eliminated two S-Class criminals and had not attacked Konoha.

Satisfied, Sakura had thanked her sensei and gone home for some well deserved rest, only to be awakened at three a.m. by a figure standing over her. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand was placed firmly over her mouth.

"Don't scream?" It was a question, not a statement. The hand was pulled back and she looked up at the figure's face.

"Sasuke-kun." She was avoiding his eyes, he noticed. He was standing at the side of her bed, watching her. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping at Naruto's?"

"I told him I'd be coming over here when I knew you were home."

"Why?"

One look told her to shut up. He climbed into the bed beside her and they both fell into a deep sleep.

-----------

**Hmm! So what'd ya think? I don't really know about this chapter, but I'm always unsure. Ebil Chameleon and I will be posting a comical story about Team Seven some time this week! Anyway, I had to re-post this chapter because I realized there were some extreme spelling mistakes (such as me accidentally putting Kakashi instead of Itachi) Whoops! Ha. I hope you guys R & R! Ja ne!**


	12. Friendly Confessions

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Please! Be my guest. The more reviews, the faster the update.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own NARUTO! (Only in my dreams)

**Main Pairing**: SasuSaku

**A/N**: Well, I LOVE YOU GUYS (for starters)! And I couldn't help myself, I updated A.S.A.P and I plan to again (quite possibly this week)!

**XxX**

When Sakura woke up she had to blink a few times.

'_Where the hell am I?_'

She'd forgotten she was back home, in her own apartment in her own room, sleeping in her own bed. She turned over, remembering Sasuke but no one was there. She frowned.

"Sasuke?" There was no answer. Surely the past couple of weeks weren't a dream. They'd been too real. She sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, still unsure.

After making a pit stop in the bathroom, she walked down stairs. It was totally silent. The eerie quiet was nice, but at the same time unnerving.

'_Where is he?'_

She walked into the kitchen, at least expecting something to tell her that he was around, or at least that he had been. There was nothing. She sat down at the table and sighed. There was a knock at the door and Sakura jumped. She shook it off and went to answer the door.

She was utterly surprised to find Ino standing there, looking perplexed.

"Uh… Hi, Forehead… I.. Look, I kinda.. I need to…"

"What?" Sakura looked at Ino with an unreadable expression. "What is it? Spit it out, Ino-pig!"

Ino glared at her. "Look, can I just come in?"

Sakura nodded and moved aside so that Ino could enter. Sakura shut the door, following Ino into the living room where Ino plopped herself down on the couch. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, what did you want to say, Ino?"

"I need you to promise that you won't tell anyone."

Sakura looked at her, surprised. "Okay… I promise."

"Alright," Ino sighed. "I'm trusting you. Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"I'm pregnant."

Sakura's jaw dropped. Shouldn't she be the one to be telling Ino that? Her eyes widened as she stared at the blonde. _How could this be?!_

"YOU'RE WHAT?!" Sakura exploded, staring at the blue-eyed girl. "Who's is it?! It's Nara Shikamaru's, isn't it?"

Ino blushed a dark red color. "Yeah."

Sakura thought a moment and then sat down next to Ino.

"Here's the thing," Sakura said quietly, now adjusted to the information that her friend had given her. "I am, too."

Ino stared at her. "Sasuke's?"

Sakura nodded quietly.

"Wow."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "I know."

"Well, this is awkward," Ino glanced sideways at Sakura, "But also kind of comforting. I mean, now I know I'm not the only seventeen year old pregnant kunoichi in the village."

"Right," Sakura said wearily. "At least we can go through this together."

Both girls winced at the thought of it. 

**XxX**

Sasuke stared blankly at Naruto. "Can't you do better than that?"

Naruto glared at him. "Shut up, teme, your arm's bleeding. At least I did some damage."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and disappeared into the trees, as did Naruto.

Sakura blinked, walking into the clearing where she could've sworn she'd seen Naruto and Sasuke. "Guys?"

They didn't answer her. Which really pissed her off.

She focused her chakra and found both boys slowly getting closer to each other. She realized they were sparring. But that doesn't give them a reason to ignore me!

She let her gloved fist glow green and slammed it in the ground, the crack heading straight for the boys. She heard Naruto let out a loud, strained yelp, a few thumps as the trees fell and then nothing. She stood, triumphant.

"Are you boys going to come out now, or do I have to do that again?"

Naruto stomped noisily out of the wooded area, straight at Sakura, rubbing his head, angrily. "What'd ya do that for, Sakura-chan?!"

"That'll teach you to ignore me, won't it, Naruto?"

Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Seconds later when Sasuke didn't appear Sakura shouted again and readied her fist. Just as she was about to pound the ground, Sasuke came out of the trees, his hands shoved in his pockets. He looked like he had when he was twelve, except for the fact that he was taller, leaner, stronger, more powerful, wearing different clothes and the word that crossed Sakura's mind: Hotter.

She pushed the thoughts away and yelled angrily at Sasuke's hunched figure, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Naruto stared at the both of them.

"HOW COULD YOU JUST DO THAT?! Don't leave a note or anything Sasuke!" She glared and Naruto couldn't help but be happy that he wasn't on the recieving end of her potential wrath.

Sasuke stood, staring at her expressionless, as always. He blinked at her twice and then began walking towards her. She didn't give him the chance to reach her before she stomped off angrily.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke who in return let out a simple, "Hn."

**XxX**

**I know, I know. It was shorter than normal but I plan on updating TWICE TODAY!! I know! It's great. You love me. So that's great too. I'm also posting this weird SasuSaku oneshot called strength that I wrote to get over my SMG writer's block.**

**Pity my poor raw soul and REVIEW!! Bless me with your kind words!! Ha. **

**Absolutely and Totally Insane, **

**--rach**


	13. Briefing

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Rating:** M

**Distribution:** Sure, just ask and let me know where it's going.

**Diclaimer:** I sadly do NOT own NARUTO...

**A/N:** Kami, I know I said that I was going to update twice friday but things did not go as planned. Strength took longer to type than I thought and when I was done I was reeeeallllly tired. Then today it was crazy and somehow the sound program got deleted and it's just wow. haha, but here it is.

**XxX**

Sakura visably winced under the Hokage's gaze. Tsunade sat at the end of the table next to Jiraya, nodding as if she was listening but she was really watching Ino and Sakura intently. Sakura did everything she could to hid her uneasiness and keep her composure. She could feel Ino to the left of her doing to same. They clasped hands underneath the table. Sakura squeezed Ino's hand tightly and Ino squeezed back.

Tsunade could tell that there was something up. Something going on with two of her strongest kunoichis. It's just that.. she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She turned her attention back to Jiraya who was currently informing her on the most recent addition to the Icha Icha Paradise series. Tsunade nodded and smirked, not really listening to the intense details of the plot.

Finally the waiters came and the eighteen shinobi sitting at the large table ordered their meals and the small talk died down. Tsunade decided to adress the matter at hand and 'ahem'ed to call their undivided attention to her.

"Uchiha Sasuke," She said firmly and waited until his eyes were on hers. "We have your trial set for the 30th of this month and your Hebi teammate's set for the 29th. Jugo's will be first at 1:30 and Karin's will be at 3:00. Be there or don't, but they're both counting on you to be able to remain in Konoha."

"I'm aware of that," Sasuke aswered quietly, "I'll be there."

Tsunade nodded at him, "But for the time being, you will all be given a big assignment. It will start as soon as the month is done. Once again I will remind you that since this is an S-rank, you can choose to decline. No one will be offended or disappointed. To endanger your life is your choice. But I do hope that you all accept, this mission needs each and everyone of you, excluding our five elders here," she guestered to Jiraya, Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi and Gai. "Our four teams will be paired to have six members each. Teams Kakashi and Asuma will be paired as well as Teams Kurenai and Gai. As I said, accept it or don't, that's your choice."

Ino and Sakura looked at each other.

Neji immediately accepted as well as Kiba, Shino and Naruto. Hinata accepted after Naruto, and so did Tenten.

"There MUST be some blossoming youthful-ness on this mission, Lee!" Gai shouted, much louder than he needed so, seeing as he was baisically sitting right next to Lee.

"YES!" Lee shouted back, "I will be the bloom of youthful-ness! I will not let you down, Gai-sensei! Hokage-sama, I ACCEPT!!"

Sasuke simply said, "Hn." Which they were all sure meant that he accepted. Shikamaru muttered, "troublesome..." before he and Chouji accepted which just left the two kunoichis. Everyone was staring at them, waiting, Tsunade especially. Sakura tried not to squirm under her stares and squeezed Ino's hand again. Once Ino squeezed back, they both said, "Hai."

Tsunade would've continued on the mission briefing but their food arrived. Chouji immediately dug in, and Naruto slurped his ramen rather loudly. Shikamaru ate slowly, and so did Sasuke, both boys taking their time. Once everyone except Chouji was finished (he never really stopped eating.. EVER) Tsunade resumed where she'd left off.

"This mission is to infiltrate Akatsuki. Two members are out somewhere unknown. Which is why I need so many of you. Hidan and his partner Kakuzu haven't been spotted for a while. I need Yamanka to take over the leaders mind until Sakura can get close enough to use the coma jutsu. Once that is complete, Uchiha, I need you and Naruto to take out Deidara while Shikamaru and Chouji take out Tobi. We'll need four people to take out the unknown Akatsuki member because we do not know who he or she is or what their attacks are. Hinata, Kiba, Shino and Lee should be able to handle that. And the last Akatsuki member, Zetsu, will be taken out by Neji and Tenten. Is this clear?"

"Hai," was chorused around the room.

"As soon as the end-of-the-month-trails are done and over with, this mission is to be carried out," Tsunade said firmly. "This mission is extremely secretive. Not even Shizune knows about this. If this leaks, I will be able to narrow it down to one of you. Now, you are all excused."

The eighteen shinobi in the room began to stand. Sakura let go of Ino's hand and began to leave herself when Tsunade's voice stopped her.

"Sakura, Ino, I need to speak with you both in my office in two hours."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura said quietly, whereas Ino nodded.

The two girls turned and left.

**XxX**

"What? Do you think she knows?" Ino and Sakura were sitting on Sakura's bed. They still had an hour to go before their meeting with Tsunade.

"I don't know. Tsunade-shishou is a very intelligent woman. I wouldn't be surprised."

"Well, what do we do?"

"I don't know, Ino. Did you tell Shikamaru yet?"

Ino went pale. "No.. I was going to but.. I don't know, Sakura. This is just bad. What if I just get an abortion?"

"What?" Sakura's eyes were wide, "No! Ino you have no right, NO RIGHT AT ALL to kill the life inside of you! It didn't _choose_ to be there and now you're going to just kill it without even giving it a chance?!"

"Sakura, CALM down. I didn't say that... "

"Ino. Abortion is not an option."

"But then he won't have to know. Ever. I mean, it was a one time thing.. we were just drunk and we were having fun... It was like.. an accident?"

Sakura couldn't help herself. "Like you tripped and he fell?"

Ino turned a red color. "You know what I mean, Forehead!"

"Yeah yeah, Ino-pig. Let's work out a plan. Something to say in case she asks."

"We say 'No', of course," Ino said, staring at Sakura as if she was the stupidest person on the planet. "We deny it."

"We can't LIE to the Hokage, Ino."

"We're pretty much lying to her now!"

"No we're not. We just didn't tell her. That's different."

"Not really," Ino said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, so you're lying to Shikamaru, then?"

"No."

"It's the same situation."

"No it's not." The look on Sakura's face made Ino scoff. "Fine, okay. No lying."

Once the girls had made a plan, they headed towards the Hokage's office.

Tsunade was sitting at her desk, her eyes scanning a folder, a bottle of sake near her left hand. She reached for it but stopped mid-way when there was a knock on her door. She took one more look at the sake before grabbing it quick and taking a large swig. Once she swallowed she put the bottle on the floor next to her foot and put the folder on the shelf behind her.

"Yeah?"

"Tsunade-sama, I'd hate to disturb you but you asked Ino and I to be here?" Sakura's voice.

"Hai, come in."

The two girls entered the room cautiously but with determination.

"I'm going to get straight to the point. What is going on with you two? Is there something wrong?"

"No, of course not, Tsunade-sama," Sakura said quietly.

"Don't lie to me, Sakura. If you two are having promblems, emotional or physical, I need to know. It may not be safe to send you on this mission. We can't have anything bad happen or poeple could die."

Sakura and Ino glanced at each other. Suddenly Sakura knew that they weren't getting out of the office without something bad happening.

**XxX**

**Well, that was the end of yesterday's chapter.. I APOLOGIZE for the wait. I'm so so so so so sorry. But anyway, I'll try to update realllll fast, kay? There's gonna be some real drama in the next chapter and then before you know it.. AKATSUKI!! This is going sooo fast. Well. I hope you enjoyed. Review!!**

**--rach**


	14. The Trials

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Rating:** M

**Distribution:** Sure, just ask and let me know where it's going.

**Diclaimer:** I sadly do NOT own NARUTO...

**A/N:** Well, my chapters never come out as I want them! Grrraaahhh! Anyway, here's number 1-4!! Amazing. I feel like I just started this thing yesterday.

**XxX**

Sakura woke up and tiredly rubbed her eyes. Sasuke was lying in bed next to her. He'd learned his lesson. He wasn't leaving her to wake up to an empty bed without leaving a note ever again. Unless he wanted to get a part of his body chopped off. He winced. She'd given him three bruises and hadn't talked to him for the entire day he'd left her.

He knew that he had to get up. It was 12:30 and Jugo's trial was in an hour. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He stood up and headed for the bathroom. After his long, hot shower he walked back into Sakura's bedroom and watched her expression when he dropped his towel yet again. The emotions that spread over her face were hard to read. He could tell she was remembering everything that had happened to them and between them. The dropping of the towel, the passionate intimacy, and the un-expected pregnancy. He pulled on his clothes and thought about the baby growing inside of her. His baby. He was going to be a daddy. Suddenly, Sakura jumped up and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door. He strode over to it and twisted the handle. She'd locked it.

"Sakura?" He could hear her wretching inside and began to get worried, "Hey, open the door. Are you okay? Open the damn door."

He heard her cough and the toilet flush. Then he heard the sink turn on. When it shut off, the door handle turned and she was standing before him, extremely pale.

"Are you okay?" He asked again.

She nodded. "Just a side affect of this pregnancy."

He nodded, feeling guilty. It was pretty much his fault.

"I've got to go to Hebi's trial soon, will you be okay by yourself? Do you want me to get somebody?"

She shook her head, moving over to him and hugging him around the waist, her head on his chest. "No, I'll be fine. I'll meet you right after, okay?"

"Aa."

**XxX**

The whole court was staring at Jugo. Tsunade was standing by him, holding his arm, a reasurring smile on her lips. Jugo smiled a little too, understanding that she was taking Sasuke's place. The way Sasuke had taken Kimmimaru's. She had been his protecter against himself and the world since he had gotten there and he liked Tsunade. She made him feel like he was at home. He turned when he heard someone enter the room and smiled wide when he saw it was the Uchiha. He looked the same except that he had on a dark blue t-shirt and the hideous purple bow was gone.

Jugo knew Sasuke would keep his word. Everything would be okay.

After both trials, Jugo and Karin were ruled as not a threat and allowed to stay in Konoha.

Deciding to thank Sasuke, Karin had approached him quickly as soon as the trail was over.

"Sasuke," She said smiling what she thought was 'sweetly'. "Arigato." He nodded and continued looking out the door of the room. Karin got angry. "Sasuke," she said again, "where are you going now?" He didn't answer her. She would make him pay attention to her. Grabbing his arm suddenly and pulling him to her she planted her lips on his. It hadn't been even two seconds before she was shoved roughly to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked calmly, glaring holes into her.

"Getting your attention," she said.

"Don't make me regret my decision to let you stay in Konoha."

Karin adverted her eyes. Sasuke looked up back out the door. Where Sakura was standing, paler than she had been this morning, gawking but also managing to glare furiously at Karin. Sasuke knew this would be _very_ bad. He had to get Sakura out of there before she did something she would later regret. Wanting to see what Sasuke was looking at, Karin stood up and looked to what he was looking at. It was hard for her not the back up. Sakura stomped towards them, obviously extremely mad. She looked like she was going to burst into angry flames any minute. Sasuke walked to meet her and Karin watched her exhange harsh words with him before he leaned down and kissed her. Karin was fuming as she watched Sakura break away to glare triumphantly at her once more and be led away by Sasuke.

If Karin was going to do anything bad, she'd most definitally think that it'd be worth it to ruin her stay in Konoha... by killing the weird pink haired girl.

**XxX**

Sakura was deathly pale as she sat in the cold room. She'd thrown up twice that morning from her morning sickness and was still extremely nauseous. What with yesterday and the ugly girl with the un-even hair trying to make a move on Sasuke and the stupid first trimester side affects, she was feeling like she was in HELL. The elders were sitting at a high table with Tsunade in the middle at the front of the room and Sasuke was standing in front of them. They were asking every possible question and he was answering them all honestly. As far as she could tell.

Next to her, Naruto was stiffling a yelp of pain. Sakura was holding his hand and her nails were digging into the skin. Sharp pains were shooting up his arm and his hand was stiff, still in her painfully strong grip. He didn't want to look down. He was afraid that his hand was going to be purple and mangled.

Finally, they stopped questioning Sasuke and stood up from the table. Tsunade said something quietly to Sasuke who nodded and let out another simple, "Hn." He'd done enough talking for the day. More talking then he'd done in a long time. The elders and Tsunade disappeared into another room. Nobody in the room moved.

"What's going on?" Sakura whispered to Kakashi, loosening her grip on Naruto's hand. He sighed in relief.

"They're going to evaluate Sasuke in the other room and then come back and tell him his punishment." Kakashi answered, his eyebrow raising at the sight of Naruto's hand

"Oh," Sakura said, watching Sasuke with sad jade eyes.

"Uh, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"Can you.. uhm, heal my hand?"

Sakura looked down at his hand in surprise. It was bruised and looked almost broken. Her eyes widened and she could see the nail marks on the top of his hand. Had she really been gripping his hand that tight? She healed his hand with chakra.

"Gomen-nasai," Sakura said quietly and a minute or so later, Tsunade reappeared before the court which caused Sakura to clutch at Naruto's newly healed hand again.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she said quietly. "Because you have killed two members of the Akatsuki and have not threatened Konohagakure in any way, your punishment for your temporary betrayl will not be severe. You will be on probation starting in _two_ months. You will be on it for _six_ and if you have not caused any other offenses, you will be released from that probation."

Sasuke nodded. This is what he had expected. Finally, they were all excused and Sakura was the first to run over and envelop in a hug. He waited a moment before turning and leading the way out of the building.

**XxX**

"Shikamaru," Ino called, walking faster to catch up to him. He nodded at her, hands in his pockets, walking lazily towards his destination. "I need to tell you something really important."

The Nara stopped at stared at her. "What is so important?" Ino looked around uneasily and he could suddenly see the worry in her eyes. "Hey, is something wrong?"

"We need to go someplace private, okay?" Ino asked, playing with her weapons pouch.

The lazy genius nodded and allowed the blonde haired girl to lead him in the direction of her apartment. Once they got there, Ino moved swiftly and nervously about the kitchen, producing two cups of tea and handing one to Shikamaru who had seated himself at Ino's kitchen table. She sat down opposite of him, her brows knit slightly.

"So what's the matter?" Shikamaru asked, noticing that she was nervously playing with her tea cup.

"Okay, this is hard for me but i'm just going to say it... because I mean... you deserve to know..."

"Deserve to know what?"_ Troublesome woman..._

"That I'm... I'm-I'm pregnant."

Shikamaru's spoon clattered on the table.

**XxX**

**Short, I know. Once again. A girl can only do so much! But hey, I covered A LOT in that last chapter. I mean in so little words... right? Do you guys like 'em longer or shorter? I can't really tell. But anyway, I hope you've enjoyed!**

**Review!!**

**--rach**


	15. Understanding

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Please! Be my guest. The more reviews, the faster the update.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own NARUTO! (Only in my dreams)

**Main Pairing**: SasuSaku

**A/N**: Well, I LOVE YOU GUYS (for starters)! I'm realllly sorry for making you wait so long for an update! (I had to get my thoughts together. And there is finally some slight NaruHina action! I know I'm neglecting them but I've got special plans for those two!) ENJOY!

**XxX**

Sakura shifted. The bright sunlight that was streaming in through the open curtains was right on her face. She frowned and turned on her side, opening her eyes.

She'd had a very disturbing dream about witnessing Karin jump Sasuke in a forced kiss… Oh! Wait! That was just yesterday! She knew she was going to be in a bad mood today.

She hated to think it but, she liked it better when it'd just been her and Sasuke. Admittedly, she would miss her friends, her shishou and of course good old Kakashi-sensei, but enough was enough. A pregnant woman can only take so many moves on her boyfriend!

At that thought the bed shifted behind her and a warm arm wrapped itself around her middle. She rolled her eyes, a small smile gracing her features.

She turned her head to see the young Uchiha genius. His head was buried in between her shoulder blades but she could still see the smirk and the angelic look on his face. He was always so peaceful when he was asleep.

And yet, as hard as she tried not to be, she was still angry. Angry and hurt. Stupid Karin. Her heart had dropped at the sight of her and her stupid un-even hair. She reminded Sakura of Ami. Dread in her stomach, she remembered walking towards Sasuke and when she was just about there, he was turned and her disgusting lips were pressed against his…

The memory made her skin crawl.

What was so special about Karin anyway? She hadn't seen anything remotely good or interesting about the stupid girl. Why did he choose her for Hebi? Why didn't he choose Sakura? He thought that she was strong enough to bear his child, wasn't she strong enough to help achieve his other goal, too? Besides, he didn't need Karin anymore anyway. She was just there… adding on more stress. Naruto and had been the one to help Sasuke kill Itachi… not Hebi. So what was the point?

She tried desperately to think of something else. The mission. Ah. Another touchy subject. What if something bad happened? What if Akatsuki killed Sasuke? What if they killed her baby? What if they killed _her_? Her hand went instinctively down to her slightly protruding belly and was surprised to find something already there. Sasuke's hand. He pulled her closer.

She sighed again and felt Sasuke's eyelashes on her bare back. Add that to his warm breath and it sent shivers down her spine. His arm reluctantly released her and she felt him turn over. Suddenly she knew she was going to get sick. Quietly she got up and walked quickly down the hall to the other bathroom. She wasn't about to wake up Sasuke.

Afterwards, Sakura began to doubt that she and Ino could hide the morning sickness… or the weight gain. She knew that if an Akatsuki member.. or really ANYONE got whiff of either hers or Ino's pregnancies the mission would be screwed. They'd all be in extreme danger. Especially the two kunoichi's. Especially Sakura. Her baby was an Uchiha offspring.

_Maybe I should tell Shishou that I changed my mind_, Sakura thought. _But what if someone gets really hurt? I'm the only one who can heal them on scene._ She shuddered to think of her friends fatally wounded. _No, I have to go._

She was about to walk back down to the bedroom but an image of Karin and Sasuke flashed into her mind. Suddenly, she decided she wanted ramen and went into the kitchen to make some. After it was on the stove, she returned to her room to change. She opened the door and her eyes met Sasuke's. He was awake. And he was NOT a morning person.

She mentally winced. _Oops. I was too loud._

But she didn't hear him shout. After a few moments went by, Sakura stepped into the room.

"Do you have a fever?" Her question startled him.

"What?"

"You're not yelling at me. I woke you up."

"No you didn't."

"I didn't?"

"No. Where'd you go?"

"Oh. Nowhere," she thought about the ramen cooking on the stove.

He pushed the sheet off of him and stood up.

Sakura couldn't help herself. He was stark naked and she found herself mesmerized by him. The ripples of his muscles when he moved… his toned stomach… He moved towards her and pulled her body to his.

"You okay?"

"Huh?"

"I heard you getting sick."

"Oh. I'm fine." He leaned into kiss her but she pulled away and went off down the hall.

A few minutes later he followed, wearing a pair of boxers. She looked down at herself. She was wearing his shirt. And nothing else.

Understanding what she was looking at, Sasuke smirked at her. This is, until she unloaded some ramen into and sat down and began eating.

"What is it?"

"Hmm?" She looked up from her bowl. "Oh. Nothing."

"Sakura…" He said in a low voice that made Sakura want to curl up and die… "It's about Karin, isn't it?"

He knew he was right when Sakura shoved another mouthful in, glaring intently into the bowl.

"Sakura… She's nothing."

"Well sorry if I get a little upset about the father of my unborn child and another woman in a lip lock."

He arched an eyebrow.

"She kissed me. I ended it."

"Not fast enough."

Sasuke frowned, grabbing her wrist. "Why don't you get it, you _stupid_ woman?" The insult was soft. "I love _you_."

She stared at him stupidly. "What did you just say?" He hadn't said it since they'd been at the cabin.

Sasuke scoffed. He moved from his vigil at the sink over to her, pulling her out of her chair, to him once more. "You heard me."

"Say it again," she murmured against his chest. When he didn't say anything she looked up at him. Jade clashing with Onyx.

"Sakura," he said slowly. "I can't."

She frowned up at him. "Hmm?"

He just stared at her.

It took her a moment before she understood. He wasn't an emotional person and the last few weeks he'd been showing more emotion than he'd had in years… and it was all because of her. And what she was helping him achieve. She was finally understanding his 'Hn.'s and 'Aa.'s.

XxX 

Shikamaru just stared at Ino. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He didn't even seem to breathe.

"Shikamaru…?"

"Tell me that I just fell asleep?" He asked. His face was pale.

Ino raised her eyebrows, her hands shaking on her tea-cup.

"I'm sorry," She said, "I wish that it was a dream, too. I know that neither of us are ready for this."

He took a deep breath and looked at her hesitantly. "Do you have a plan?"

The look on Shikamaru's face made her heart hurt.

"I don't know," she admitted, "I haven't been able to think that far ahead."

He nodded at her, a sudden determination now sparkling inside the lazy genius. "I don't expect you to take full responsibility, Ino. We'll get through this together. I'll be there to take care of you."

"You promise?" Ino asked. To Nara Shikamaru, she looked like a little girl who'd lost her teddy-bear, and Shikamaru had just said he'd find it for her.

Shikamaru nodded, his hands falling to his lap. "Right now though," Ino's head shot up at his voice, "I need to sleep."

Ino nodded quietly, finished her tea and got up to put the cup in the sink. When she turned around, he was gone.

She went into her bedroom to change and then went out into the living room. She was almost surprised to see the Nara asleep on her couch. She shook her head, a small smile gracing her stressed-out worried face. She opened the front door, shutting it quietly behind her as not to disturb the sleeping teenager on the couch.

**XxX**

Naruto sighed heavily. He was sitting on a hill that over looked the beautiful Hidden Leaf Village. His legs were bent, elbows on his knees, hands dangling loosely between them. It was almost sunset. He could feel the peacefulness of his surroundings. There was a warm breeze and he slid his orange jacket off his shoulders, revealing his white T-shirt underneath.

It had finally sunk in. Sakura-chan was having a baby. With Sasuke-teme, no less! Naruto wrinkled his nose, and stared out at the pink and orange hued sky.

Of course he knew that Sakura-chan had loved the Uchiha. It had always been that way. He loved her, she loved Sasuke and Sasuke hated the world. And now the Uchiha had finally decided to love the poor cherry blossom back. Thank Kami. Naruto didn't know if he could look into her broken eyes anymore.

He just about rolled his eyes at that thought. Her broken eyes. He was sick of feeling guilty because of that teme. He needed someone, too. He shook his head, still thinking. He knew that Hinata liked him, and truth be told, he liked her back. But he had never been sure he wanted to give up on Sakura. She had been his first crush.

He sighed and looked up at the horizon again to see the familiar form of the Hyuga heiress coming up the hill. His lips twisted into a grin and he watched her with curious eyes.

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said shyly, "May I j-join you?"

Naruto nodded. "Sure. What's up, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata's cheeks reddened but Naruto remained oblivious. "J-just the sky, N-Naruto-kun."

They sat in a peaceful silence for a short while, watching the sun slowly sink beneath the horizon line. Hinata was watching Naruto carefully. He was staring listlessly at the sunset, seeming to be deep in thought.

Naruto suddenly made a choice. Before she could react, he turned his head and kissed her lightly on the lips.

When he pulled away, she was the color of a tomato.

_Oh no_, Naruto thought nervously, _Did I get too bold? She wasn't ready…_

He was watching her face. Her lavender eyes were still wide with shock. But he could see something else in them. Gratitude? Longing?

He gathered more confidence from her reassuring gaze and moved in again. This time, she was ready.

XxX 

Oh Kami. I'm reeeeaaallllly sorry that I made all of you wait that long! You all left amazing reviews and you deserved a quicker update. ARIGATO!!

Haha. Anyway. I hope all of you enjoyed the chapter… how about the NaruHina scene? I'm not sure if they're OOC but I tried to get it right.

_Review!!_


	16. Shikakun?

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Please! Be my guest. The more reviews, the faster the update.

**Disclaimer**: Me no own NARUTO!

**Main Pairing**: SasuSaku

**A/N**: Well, I LOVE YOU GUYS (for starters)! ENJOY!

**XxX**

Kakashi stared up in amazement, practically drooling beneath his mask. There in the window, was the main thing he lived for. But the damn store wasn't open yet. If the owner didn't hurry up, He'd break the door down. His one visible eye flashed up to the banner once again.

"_**THE NEW EDITION TO THE ICHA ICHA PARADISE SERIES AVAILABLE TODAY!"**_

Kakashi was going _insane_. He wanted it so badly… His thoughts were interrupted when he was slammed into. His regained his composure just in time, moving slightly to the left and the thing that slammed into him landed on the ground two feet away.

Yamanaka Ino returned his gaze with a glare that would make any normal man pee his pants. Luckily for Kakashi, he was a highly talented jonin. He backed up a step for safety, and waved politely, smiling beneath his mask, his one eye closed.

"Hello, Ms. Yamanaka," Kakashi said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ino gave him another withering glare before picking herself up off the ground. "Where's Forehead?!"

Kakashi stopped smiling, his one eye wider than normal. "You mean Sakura?"

"NO! I mean Chouji," She spat venomously, "WHERE IS SHE?"

Kakashi sweat dropped, his hand going back behind his head to itch it. "I... I don't know."

Ino sent him another withering glare before stomping off the other direction. Kakashi just shook his head, turning his attention back to the store window.

**XxX**

Sakura thanked the fruit vendor graciously, paying him for her fruit. She put them in the bag on her arm and moved over to the vegetable stand, picking up several tomatoes. After paying the owner, she turned, ready to go towards the Yamanka's flower shop. She was sure that Ino had to be looking for her by now.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" At the sound of her name, said girl turned again to see a blur of orange coming at her. Her eyes widened and Naruto skidded to a hault in front of her. "Guess what?!"

She took a second to catch up and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"HINATA-CHAN AGREED TO BE MY GIRLFRIEND!"

She hadn't noticed her before, but sure enough, Hyuga Hinata was standing quietly three or so feet behind Naruto. She was blushing a dark red.

"Hey, Hinata-chan," Sakura gave her a blinding smile.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan," Hinata answered back quietly. She continued to blush and gazed intensely at the ground. Sakura just smiled.

Some time later, After treating Naruto and Hinata to ramen as a congratulations, she began the walk back to her apartment. Almost home, she ran into Kakashi. Literally.

She shook her head and looked up. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei."

"Oh, Hello, Sakura." He wasn't paying any attention to her. She sighed. His head was in his book, as always. "I'll see you in Tsunade's office tomorrow. We really need to complete this mission," Kakashi said, still not looking up. "Hmm. Jiraiya raised the price," she heard him mutter before walking away. She shook her head again a small smile on her lips.

**XxX**

Sakura finally arrived home. The house was dark.

"Sasuke?" She called. Her voice echoed through the house. "Sasuke-kun?"

She felt deprived. She hadn't seen Sasuke since breakfast. Where was he? After putting the groceries away, she took a shower and then sat on the couch to watch T.V. Not fifteen minutes later, a very angry Ino burst into the front door.

"FOREHEAD!" Ino shouted, stomping over to the couch. Sakura was surprised that steam wasn't emitting for her friend's nostrils. Sakura gulped.

"What is it, Ino?"

"I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!" Sakura didn't like hormonal Ino. Not one bit. "I told him."

"Told him?"

"Yeah."

"Oh! Shika--"

"Yes."

"Well?"

Ino looked exasperated. "Well, what?"

"Well, what did he say?"

"I don't know. He didn't really _say_ anything. He was… quiet and worried."

"It's better than nothing. He could've laughed in your face and told you to go screw yourself," Sakura said.

"Is this your attempt at making me feel better?"

"Hai."

"Well, you suck at it. Shika-kun would never do that. He may be lazy, but he's responsible. That's just his personality."

"Shika-kun, huh?"

Ino blushed.

**XxX**

**I know! Short chapter. But you love me. So you'll review anyway. Finals are next week so I don't know how quick I can get another chapter in. I'll try, though. I love you guys!!**


	17. Their Departure

**Title**: Stand My Ground

**Rating**: M

**Distribution**: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

**Reviews**: Please! Be my guest. The more reviews, the faster the update.

**Disclaimer**: Me no own NARUTO!

**Main Pairing**: SasuSaku

**A/N**: Well, I LOVE YOU GUYS (for starters)! Here they go! off on the mission! I will post another love scene in a few chapters.. but I won't be doing any NaruHina love scences... that's... I just can't. To me, Hinata's a really innocent person.. so I can't bring myself to go into detail with her and Naruto. But if and when they do decide to get _that _intimate, you will be aware:) And I know you've all been wondering, 'where the hell is Kisame?' Lol. Me too. And I know that I said that _TWO_ Akatsuki members were out somewhere unknown, and that is because there was no body. When the teams returned from their misson to find Sakura and Naruto, they didn't bring Itachi's body, so Tsunade cannot say for sure that he is dead. She has confirmed rumors that he is 'believed to be dead' and that there are several witnesses. :) Sorry about the confusion. I was re-reading it and I realized that I wasn't exactly clear. My apologies!

**XxX**

It was 10:00 in the morning and Sasuke did _not_ want to move. He was holding on to his pink-haired cherry blossom, enjoying her warmth when the alarm went off.

He heard Sakura groan and reach around his naked torso over to the nightstand. When she couldn't find the button, he smirked, but the small gesture was quickly wiped away when her fist hit the clock with enough force to send it flying into the wall. He raised an eyebrow, looking down at her sleepy form. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a small smile before pulling out of his embrace and sitting up.

He heard her sigh and walk towards the bathroom. He heard the shower turn on, and closed his eyes again, only opening when the door opened and she came back into the bedroom, a towel around her most private parts. He shifted, not even bothering to hide his smirk while admiring her body. He watched her hips... they way her butt curved when she walked. The sensual way her shoulder blades moved underneath her skin... He frowned when she disappeared into the closet, out of his sight.

A few minutes later, she came out of the closet, fully dressed, ready to go.

"Sasuke!" She watched his expressionless face. "C'mon, get up! We're going to lunch and 11:00, remember? Cause we have to be at Tsunade's office at 12:00!" He didn't move and he smirked when he noticed the irritated look on her face. "Fine. Whatever." She stomped out of the room and left him confused.

_Since when did she throw temper tantrums? _he winced. _Since she got pregnant. Right. My bad. Stupid fucking hormones._

After showering and dressing, he walked into the living room and stood in the doorway. She was sitting on the couch, her hand on her forehead, engrossed in a medical book. Sakura didn't even look up when he said her name. He moved slowly over to the couch and touched her shoulder.

She turned her head in his direction. "Are you ready?" She asked, still obviously angry.

"Hn."

She stood up, walking angrily towards the door but he grabbed her wrist. "Sakura, stop being so childish."

"Me? Childish?"

"Aa."

"I'm not the one who was an idiot and ranaway from home, okay?" Once again, his eyebrow was raised. She frowned and the anger was replaced with sadness and she turned, hugging him around the middle. "Gomen."

"Hn," he said quietly and wrapped his arms around her. He placed a kiss on her temple and they went out the door.

XxX

Nearly twenty-five minutes later, all of the old Rookie 9 was sitting in the new part of Ichiraku's having a bowl of ramen. In Chouji and Naruto's case, about 9 bowls.

"So, do you think we're gonna live?" Chouji recieved an elbow to the gut for this question, and everyone missed Sakura and Ino's worried glances.

"Of course we are," TenTen said, trying to reassure the group. "We're all amazing and talented. With Shikamaru's strategies and plans, the mission should go well. When we complete it, we'll all be really well known. The 12 that killed Akatsuki. That'll be us."

Neji just grunted, same with Sasuke whilst Hinata nodded.

"TenTen is right!" Lee shouted, grinning. "We will live! We are good! We are so youthful that they will not be able to keep up! Right, Sakura-chan?!"

Sakura nodded absently, and Lee totally missed the violent glare from the Uchiha.

**XxX**

After eating lunch with the entire team, they all headed straight to the Hokage's office for a small misson breifing update.

"Hoshigaki Kisame has been spotted along with the other remaining Akatsuki members," Tsuande said quietly. "And one of our ANBU spies has also spotted..." The silence made the entire room tense. "Uchiha Itachi."

"NANI?" Naruto growled, one of his eyes twitching. "HE'S DEAD! Everybody saw Sasuke kill him!"

"I only know what I've been told. The ANBU reported that Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame appeared at the Akatsuki base. That's all I know. We assume that he's been killed because as of three days ago, there's been no word from him. His letter only arrived this morning," Tsuande informed them.

Everyone was staring at the youngest Uchiha who remained expressionless. Sakura was holding onto Sasuke's hand tightly, as Lee gazed on, a sad look on his usually cheery 'youthful' face.

"I want all of you in ANBU ops masks and capes. No one is to know your identities. It's easier to get caught that way." They all walked over and each picked one up.

"I thought they were all the same animal," Ino said quietly, examining the cat on her mask.

"Nope," Tsunade began. "These are special made. They are now your identities. Ino will be called 'cat' because of the cat on her mask, and so on."

Kiba picked up the dog mask, Naruto the fox, Sasuke had a tiger, Sakura a wolf, Shino a possoum, Hinata a deer, Shikamaru a sloth, Chouji a beaver, Lee a leopard, Neji a bear and TenTen had a raccoon.

After heeding the Hokage's warnings and hugs to sensei's all around, the group set off.

**XxX**

**Agggh. I know. Another rreeeaaalllllyyy short one. But a girl can only write so much! This monday is finals week and then the tuesday after I have my regents!! Ahhh! But after that, i'll have all the time in the world!! Plus I found my best friend from a long time ago. (I know, it's weird. I found her. Cause she was lost.. ahh, whatever. I haven't seen her in six years and now I can't wait!) I love you all, thank you for your reviews... by the way.. REVIEW!**

_**Peek at the next chapter:**_

_**Akatsuki, UP CLOSE!!**_


	18. Blame It On The Hormones

1**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 17

**Chapter Title:** Blame It On The Hormones.

**Distribution:** I think y'all know my terms by now.

**Disclaimer:** I wish I owned NARUTO. But I _**DON'T**_. If I did, Sakura and Sasuke would be together and everyone would be happy fairytale creatures and Asuma would live and he and Kurenai would live happily ever-after... and everyone would be smiling! Haha. They deserve a little happiness, ne?

**Feedback:** Ahh. My favorite. I love reviews. So you know you want to make me happy. Send me beautiful reviews and you will get a quicker UPDATE!! W O O T.

**A/N:** Yo. This is my favorite chapter.. Just cause it's the seventeenth! And that's one of my favorite numbers. I have two **regents** examinations left and then it's just _SUMMER_! And Man, I can't wait to escape and party and screw around.. Ahh.. The confines of school nights and curfews gone.. (blissful sigh) Can you tell I'm in _ecstacy_? Anyway, this chapter is going to be a bit bizarre... in my opinion anyway.. And there's going to be some tragedy in this story..Not in this chapter.. But.. Yeah. I know most of you have been following it since its beginning chapters and I thank you for that... but if you don't think you'll emotionally hold up for some death, maybe you shouldn't read certain chapters. It's gonna get pretty messy. Don't worry though, I'll put a warning in the beginning under the A/N and right before the chapter starts to let you know. As well as lemon chapters!! (yes, there will be more than just the one.) Anyway, here's the next chapter... a bit longer than the last few, might I add... Enjoy! Blame It On The Hormones...------- rarrrr.

**XxX**

"C'mon, Sakura-chan, please?" Sakura, hearing this, rolled her eyes. Why didn't he understand the word 'No'?

"Naruto," Sakura began, taking a deep breath, "I–"

"Please use code names as the Hokage instructed," they heard Neji's voice over the microphones. "And stop talking about personal things. This is a mission, not a reunion."

"Neji," TenTen said with a gentle, yet stern tone. "You're so uptight today."

"We're on a mission."

_Silence._

"Well," Shikamaru drawled, trying not to fall asleep, although he wasn't trying _hard_, "This is troublesome."

"I know," Ino agreed for once. "And not in the least bit entertaining."

"I'm hearing you," Kiba agreed. A small bark in the background could be heard from Akumaru.

"Stay in your positions," Neji commanded calmly. "Reports."

"Nothing on the northern side," Shino said calmly. Sakura could hear the buzzing of bugs. "It smells like death over here, though."

"It is calm at the southern entrance," Lee said, enthusiastically. "But if anything happens, I will be right on it!"

Anyone who was listening sighed and sweat dropped.

"I-It's just quiet here," Hinata reported from her position on the western side. "R-right, N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yup!"

"Same here," Shikamaru replied, pulling a toothpick out of his front vest pocket and shoving it in his mouth.

"There's nothing," was Sasuke's report.

"Ditto," TenTen said, pulling out a sharp kunai to shine.

"God," munching was heard, "I'm running out of chips," Chouji said sadly. "And nothing's happening."

"Nothing here either," Ino said. "How about you, billboard brow?" Sakura didn't answer. "Forehead?" Still nothing.

"Whose closest to the Wolf?" Neji asked, calm and serious.

"We are," Kiba responded, immediately he and Akumaru were moving off in the direction that he'd last known Sakura to be in. "We'll be there any minute."

Suddenly, a grunting sound was heard, followed by some static and some more grunting sounds and then a, "Damn it!"

"Wolf?" She didn't answer. Neji was about to speak again when they heard her voice.

"_Fucking_ moron! Get off me," there was some more grunting. "Jesus, you call yourself a shinobi? Ha."

"Forehead?" Ino spoke into the microphone, confused. "Forehead, you okay?"

"Ow! What the _hell_!"

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked and after a pregnant silence, "Sakura, damn it, woman, answer me!"

"What? God, calm do–_ow_!"

"What the fuck is going on?!"

"This little– _you asshole!_– little** Akatsuki** spy tried to– _let go of my hair, baka. What are you, 5? Hair puller._– jump me. I'm trying not to– _Okay, you want to play dirty?– _I'm really not trying to make–_ What the hell do you think you're doing?! Grab ANY of my body parts again and I'll_– trying to– _ How about a knee to the groin? Hmm? _– make too much no– _Motherfu-!_– noise."

"Do you need any assistance, Sakura-chan?" Lee asked hopefully.

"Taken care of," Kiba responded, getting closer and hearing the sounds of a fight. He and Akumaru landed in the clearing to see Sakura sitting on a ninja, his face in the dirt.

**XxX**

"Has anyone heard from Kikumaru? He should be back by now," The voice spoke with worry, as the female hurried to catch up.

"Hn."

"I'll take that as a no," She said quietly and stopped walking next to him after a look from the pale blue shark. "But what about you? Don't you care at all? I know you don't care for his well being, but don't you even care if he comes back safely? He's.. vulnerable. What if he doesn't come back? What if he got hurt? You won't get your stupid information."

"You ask too many questions," The shark sneered at her. "Shut up before I cut your tongue out."

She glared at him. "You can't touch me."

"Do you want to try me?"

"You're both trying my patience," The Uchiha stood in the doorway, his black eyes forever glaring. The shark man took the hint and heeded, moving back to his position at Uchiha Itachi's side.

The girl stared at them both.

Itachi turned going out into the dark, dank hallway, Kisame following. The girl stayed back in the other hallway, deciding to leave it be. She knew they couldn't touch her. Well, they couldn't _kill _her. Which relieved her more than anything. She hated being affiliated with Akatsuki.

"What's the plan?" Kisame asked.

"They all die. If the spy doesn't come back, we'll deal. If he said anything damaging, we'll have to recuperate. And if the spy isn't dead, I kill him."

"And then?"

Kisame was one person that Itachi was tolerant of. But he was beginning to bother the Uchiha.

"And then I pay my little brother and his kunoichi a visit. He actually killed me. Now I have another chance. This time I will not underestimate him."

**XxX**

"Let me ask you again," Her voice was dripping with violence, her eyes amused and more than happy to push since he wasn't talking. "Who are you, and why are you working with Akatsuki?"

He stared up at the woman, her brown eyes vibrant and mean. "I-I..."

"Damn it, boy, answer me before I decide to cut your fingers off," In response to this, he balled his hands into fists. His wrists were bound and so were his ankles. He was stuck. Kikumaru knew this would be bad. He had to say something. But he knew he couldn't say a lot. If this woman didn't kill him, than someone else would. Especially if he talked. Well, they'd make him wish he was dead, anyway. He'd rather endure a few hours of torture than to go back and endure a few years of it.

"My name is Kikumaru."

"That's a start," she replied. A man with lavender eyes ducked into the tent. He arched an eyebrow at the hostage's bloody face and arms.

"TenTen..."

The girl known as TenTen smiled.

"His name is Kikumaru," she said with a grin.

Kikumaru noticed that the cruelty and the anger was gone from her eyes. They were now warm. The danger was replaced by something else._ Love?_

"Nice," The man replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

TenTen smiled. A compliment. From a Hyuga. _Hyuga Neji_. Well, it was surely a cold day in hell. He leaned in, whispering something in her ear. She blushed slightly, and he turned ducking low again to go under the tent flap. His long hair bounced against his back. Kikumaru wondered how the elastic kept his hair in place. His own hair was short and red. Bright red like a fire truck. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when TenTen pulled out three _very _sharp senbon. Kikumaru gulped.

"AHHHHGGHHHHH!"

Sakura arched an eyebrow. "What's she doing in there?"

"A torture thing," Lee replied proudly, "She loves using her weapons. She's quite good at it... She's practiced on me before." His face contorted at this thought and Sakura patted him on the back.

"It's okay, Lee."

"I know! TenTen is very good at this! She will surely get something out of the bad guy!"

Sakura nodded. At that moment, Lee leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"You're very pretty, Sakura-chan."

A smile lit up Sakura's face as she hugged the green-clad ninja. "Arigato, Lee!"

A smile graced Lee's own face and he struck his 'youthful' pose.

"Sakura," Sasuke said coming up next to her. "I want to talk to you. _Alone_." He looked at Lee, glaring, and received a vicious glare right back.

"What's wrong?"

"Now, would be nice," He said angrily, his glaring eyes never leaving Lee's.

"Well, I don't care about what would be nice," her additude was suddenly different from the one that had been happily hugging Lee a second ago. "I'll talk to you _when _I'm good and ready."

"_No_. You'll talk to me now," Sasuke said, his hand clamping down on her wrist. Lee watched all this with his eyes as big as saucer plates.

"_Fuck you_," She growled, jerking her wrist away from him and walking in the opposite direction.

But this Uchiha was not about to let her be the one to walk away. He strode toward her, grabbed her shoulder and spun her around and asked in a harsh but hushed tone, "What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?"

"I'm sick of you stepping all over me. I'm not just going to comply with your every wish. I have things to do and you're not the only in my life. Deal. Lee just helped me realize that I'm missing out."

"What are you talking about?"

"He called me beautiful," She said quietly. "You never do that."

He stared at her. He reeeeallly hated hormones. It was his damn hormones that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. Stupid testosterone. And now it was her raised levels of estrogen that were causing her weird mood swings. He knew he should've objected when she'd agreed to this mission. He should have never looked at her twice. He should've never gone back into those damn woods.. Or asked her to come with.. There were a lot of things he should never have done. He decided not to dwell. _Fucking A_.

"Sakura," He said slowly. "We need to talk."

She glared slightly at him but never the less allowed him to lead her away into the woods a bit.

"What?" She asked, her eyes blank.

"What do you mean, what? You were all over Lee and he was..."

"He was what, Sasuke?"

"I don't know.. Staring at you or something."

"Staring at me? Like you usually do? I always feel like.. You're undressing me with your eyes."

_Maybe it's cause I am,_ He thought slyly. He's blame it on the hormones. Damn things.

"It doesn't matter. You were still all over him."

"All over him?" Her face was getting red. "I _HUGGED_ him. I think somebody's_ jealous_."

Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah, okay."

"Whatever. I'm not talking to you." She began to walk away. He stood there and it took everything he had not to gape at her. _She_ wasn't talking to _him_? He really hated the damn mood swings. He was also beginning to re-think the idea of having more kids after this.

**XxX**

"Shh," Shikamaru pulled Ino closer to him, resting his chin on the top of her head. He'd been trying to console her for an hour now. She was so.. Restless. Worried. After about three hours of poking and prodding she admitted to her worries. She told him about her fears of being caught, about losing the baby.. About putting him in danger. Which was just what she and Sakura had done. She had put Shikamaru's life and loyalty on the line. He hadn't said anything to Tsunade about Ino's pregnancy. And she had been grateful. But now was sad. She didn't want anyone to get hurt.

He once again asked himself how his life had gotten so complicated.

_Oh, right, _he thought bluntly, _my damn hormones._

He'd wanted Ino, and he'd gotten her. He closed his eyes. He loved her, yeah. But he wasn't ready for this. If only he could've controlled himself. But those damn hormones... ahh.

He pulled her shaking form closer and sighed.

_Kami, women are troublesome._

Meanwhile, a few tents down, Sakura and Sasuke were lying down quietly.

Sakura had given in hours ago and was now curled against Sasuke's chest in a light slumber. Sasuke was playing with a lock of pink hair absently as he thought about the situation. He growled to himself about how _there shouldn't be a situation._ About how two months ago he was situation** free**. But then, he was also Sakura free. He'd been alone then, living in his small cabin, occasionally coming back to it after weeks out, gathering information. And now here he was, near Akatsuki. His brother was dead. (He's pretty sure. Though he has small doubts.) And if his brother wasn't dead.. Well, he'd just kill him again. Though he'd always relented on how things that were dead were supposed to stay that way. And he was about to help take out one of the most powerful organizations in the world. That was how it was always meant to be, he supposed. If Itachi hadn't up and killed his entire clan, he guessed it would have always been this way. A talented shinobi with a woman in his arms... yes. A woman he loved. A woman who was bearing his child. He was as close to happy as he could possibly be.

**XxX**

Morning came with no mercy, as Kikumaru was shouting in agony while TenTen waved her katana around in front of his face. She'd broken four fingers on his left hand, put a big gash in his right arm, and stabbed his abdomen twice with her katana, his face was a series of colors... purple, red, blue, green, yellow.. Bruises littered his arms and neck, and his legs, although his pants covered those up. He also had three shuriken sticking out of his thigh in three different places.

Neji didn't know that TenTen could be that violent... or cruel. She was dangerous. He kind of liked it. He watched her pull out two senbon and threaten the captive dramatically. The flap to the tent opened, and pink hair appeared. Haruno Sakura smiled at TenTen, but her smile slipped when she saw the state of the man. She tore her eyes away from his pleading hazel ones and looked over at Neji.

"You wanted to see me?"

Neji was still watching as TenTen cocked her head to the side and grinned at the captive. The fear that radiated off him was feeding her and he could see it.

"Yes," Neji said quietly, "You may need to heal some of the captive's life threatening wounds so that TenTen can continue."

"WHAT?" The man in the chair screeched, his eyes wide, pleading with Sakura. "I'll talk, I swear," he said, his voice shaking, "but only to her." He tried to point an unbroken finger at Sakura but TenTen grabbed it and a sickening crack filled the tent as the red head howled in pain.

"What's wrong with me?" TenTen asked sweetly, her eyebrow raised.

"N-Nothing," he said, his voice shaking.

"It's okay, TenTen, Neji," Sakura said quietly, her hands already glowing. "I've got it."

"Report to me right after. You've got half-an-hour," Neji responded, grateful. He wanted time alone with his girlfriend. Stupid hormones.

"That's fine," Sakura said nodding. "Just do me a favor."

Neji nodded his head, waiting.

"Occupy Sasuke."

Neji raised an eye brow but agreed, pulling TenTen out of the tent after him.

After Sakura had healed some of the wounds and pulled out the three shuriken, she moved back and leaned against a stand TenTen had put up to hold her weapons.

"So talk," Sakura said quietly.

**XxX**

"We're going to have to take him out," The man in the shadow growled. "He's _bound_ to be talking by now. No pun intended. Once we find them we'll just kill them all."

"Ah," the blue haired one replied, "but we are too weak right now. Uchiha is only up and running again. He needs to recover. Toby isn't ready and Deidara is still trying to get a handle on having use of only one arm. He's got an extra toothbrush now. It bothers him."

"An extra toothbrush?" The shadowed man asked, disgust obvious in his voice. "He brushes the teeth in his palms?"

"Aa, that he did."

"It doesn't matter. We still have Hidan and Zetsu. They can do it."

"They're out. We could call them but that would damage the operation they're already control of. They'll be back in a few days."

"So we'll do it then."

"It's now or we run."

"Then we'll have to do it."

"I can't do that now, I almost have enough power for the transformation and the reincarnation," The blue haired one said, annoyed.

"Fine. We'll be silent. I'm telling you, in the end, it _will_ bite us in the ass."

"Hmm."

**XxX**

"And that's _all _of it?" Sakura asked, her jade eyes extremely wide. Kikumaru thought she looked pretty. Her eyes were so enticing.. He probably would've made a move if he weren't in this position. If he wasn't an Akatsuki spy. If she wasn't an ANBU Leaf officer.. If he didn't love his evil girlfriend... He'd blame the attraction on his hormones.

"Yes," he said quietly, still amazed himself that he had given her all of that information.

"Holy shit," she said, shock still evident in her voice.

Sakura turned, exiting the tent in a quick motion. She waved Neji over and then disappeared back inside the tent. Neji followed soon after.

"He told me everything," Sakura said quietly, looking at Neji with wide eyes. He waited for her to continue, never once looking at the hostage. "Itachi is alive." Neji's breath caught in his throat but he remained expressionless. So, it was true. The Uchiha was alive. Again or still? He wanted to know. "They brought him back a few days ago. He's still recovering." She took a breath. "But they have a plan. They're going to kill us all. They're going to massacre Konoha and take the nine-tailed fox. All nine of them."

**XxX**

**W O O T. So... THE PLOT HAS THICKENED!! Yay for chapter seventeen! Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed. Oh, and some quick shoutouts: STARR. I LOVE YOU. KIT. UPATE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ITACHI AND KURENAI FROM YESTERDAY AND THE WEEKEND!! Yay!! REVIEW!**


	19. The Strip Tease

1**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 19- The Strip Tease

**Distribution:** Youuu knowww it!

**Disclaimer:** For the millionth time, I don't OWN NARUTO!! I just wish I did!

**A/N:** Hmmm. _It seems my lovely pal Ebil Chameleon has received one of the rudest messages in the entire world. I read it myself, and the girl claims that she was just handing out a bit of constructive critisism, but I'll tell you this: __**CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM MY PHANNY.**__ Lol. It was overly cruel. __**We may have grammar issues but y'all don't need to be up in our grills**__. Haha. I feel gangster. But anyway, if we know we have grammar issues, Ebil and I share that info, we read each other's stories. I love her. Don't BASH her. Arrrgh. _Not that any of you are doing that. You guys are my favorite. :) By the way!: This is not an emotionally stressing chapter. This is a chapter filled with sexual referances and a (kind of) rape scene. But not really. Don't worry. It doesn't get too graphic and it's not as bad as it sounds. Wanna know something funny? I had a brain fart and I thought last chapter was the 17th and it was really the 18th! Haha. But anyways, I love you guys!! The song is Lover I don't Have To Love by Bright__Eyes!

**Feedback:** PLEASE DO!

**A/N #2:** I felt like I needed another author's note. Tehe. Here we go. Oh, and I can't remember how to put those line thingies in so that's why I use the X's. Just to answer your question. The next chapter will be a dedication! Leave a nice review and it just might be you! Yay, I rhyme!!

**XxX**

"Stop it," She hissed, slapping his hands away for the second time. "We have to get up. Just because you're sexually frustrated, you don't need to take it out on me." Much to his dismay, she pulled away from him and stood, hunching over a bit in the tent. And as her words reached his ears, his eyes narrowed, obviously offended.

"_I'm_ not the one sexually frustrated. I can't deal with you. One second you're hot, the next you're cold. Stop playing with me and just go through with it already. You're _such_ a tease."

"_Fuck you_," She spat again, for the third or fourth time that week, he was beginning to lose count.

"If you stop being such a bitch, I might take you up on that offer," he growled, turning on his side away from her. He didn't want to see the look on her face. Probably shocked.

He heard her moving around and carefully shifted to see her bent over a bag. She was shoving something into it and he sat up. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving," she muttered, almost so quiet he didn't hear. She picked her bag up and swung it over her shoulder.

"You can't go anywhere," he sneered, "we're on a mission."

"Oh, but I can. I can get the _fuck_ away from you," she seemed to have such a foul mouth lately. She pulled the tent flap back but before she could get her foot out he was up, grasping her forearm, his onyx eyes hard but pleading.

"Stay," he ordered.

"No, I'm sick of fighting with your sorry ass. We obviously can't get along. I'm pregnant, if you've forgotten, and it's your damn fault. I'm tired and sore and I don't need your insults. I'm done," she said, stepping out, pulling her arm with her. He could tell she was completely furious. He let go, not wanting to make a scene and watched as she set the bag next to Hinata's tent and went over to talk to the said girl. Sakura pulled her to the side and was speaking quietly, and when Hinata nodded her head she turned, walking away. She caught Sasuke's eye and gave him a triumphant look, picked up her bag and went inside Hinata's tent. He sighed.

_Getting laid is not worth this stress,_ he decided, glaring at the inside of the tent. _Why'd she have to go and get pregnant? Ugh._ _Now I'm technically bound to her annoying (but hot) ass for the rest of my damn life._ He frowned, wishing that he didn't love her.

"Yo, UGLY! I have to talk to you!" An unfamiliar voice echoed through the camp, and Sasuke looked out to see a guy who slightly resembled him land in the clearing. Sasuke stepped out of the tent.

"SAI!!" Naruto appeared out of nowhere, beaming brightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a message from the Hokage. I'm supposedly supposed to assist on this mission. So what's up, _Dickless_?"

Sasuke barely covered his snort of laughter as Naruto's face turned extremely red and he began shouting obscenities at his 'friend'. He took a step towards them but Sakura caught his eye coming out of Hinata's tent. She bounded over to them, smiling, still looking a little bit irked.

"Hey, Ugly," Sai repeated and it was Sakura's turn to get even angrier. She belted him upside the head and Sasuke winced slightly. It looked like it hurt. But the boy was not affected.

Suddenly, Sasuke remembered him. Sai was the one who replaced him after he left for Sound. He was the emotionless one. Like, worse than himself. Totally emotion FREE. Totally not _**EMO**_ cause how could you be _**EMO**_ with no _**EMO**_tions?? You can't be _**EMO**_tional. So,Yeah. He was the one with Sakura and Naruto when they came for him at the castle. He was the only one that Sasuke had thought was a worthy opponent.

Ino came over and joined the group, as did Shikamaru. He heard the blonde say hello, and waited for another insult to pop out of the replacement's mouth. He was surprised a moment later.

"How's it going, Beautiful?" Ino beamed at him and Shikamaru slid a possessive arm around Ino's waist. Sasuke raised an un-seen eyebrow and went to join the group.

As soon as he reached them he took his usual spot between Sakura and Naruto and was surprised when Sakura moved around so that she was next to Sai and Ino. Naruto threw a questioning look at Sasuke and Sasuke just shrugged. She was being so childish.

"So, _Sai_," Sakura said, making Sasuke dig his fingernails into his palms and clench his teeth, "What'd you have to talk to _me_ about?"

"The Hokage has asked me to inform everyone at the same time." Soon everyone had formed a circle except for TenTen, who was keeping an eye on Kikumaru.

"So what's the big deal? What does the Old Hag want?" Naruto asked, receiving a small glare from Sakura at the nickname for her shishou.

"She wants Sakura and Ino to infiltrate Akatsuki."

There was only silence.

"Elaborate," Neji sighed.

"Some of the members, it seems have a soft spot for whores," Sai said, emotionless as always. Sakura turned red again.

"WHAT'S _THAT_ SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" Sakura exploded before Ino had the chance.

"It means, _Ugly_, that you're supposed to pose as a whore and seduce the targets. Not that _you_ really need to pose."

Sasuke was about to pummel the emotionless kid. He just called his pregnant.. Girlfriend?.. a whore! But before he could react, Sakura did. Immediately pissed, Sakura punched him in the face. "Shut up, Asshole."

"What? A seductress mission? Both of us? Me AND Forehead?"

By then, Sai had recovered. "That's what she said."

"Oh God," Ino said, looking doubtful. "We could die."

"We could die, now," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Shut up," Ino said quietly, elbowing him lightly in the ribs. "No one asked you."

Shikamaru just sighed.

"I guess we have to accept," Sakura said thoughtfully, refusing to look at Sasuke.

"Ugly, you're gonna have to use a genjutsu on your hair. It's just too bright and memorable. And you are both required to do _anything_," Sai said quietly, ignoring Ino and Sakura's saucer plate eyes.

"YOU DON'T MEAN–?" Sakura yelped.

"Yup."

"Oh that is _nasty_," Ino supplied, her face contorted, "You're doing that part," she said quietly.

"No way!" Sakura said, her face also holding a look of disgust.

"It's the only way he talks," Sai said, not in the least bit concerned. "They spill Akatsuki secrets when they're about to-"

"Don't tell me," Sakura said, a grossed out expression on her face. "I can't believe Tsunade-shishou expects us to do this!"

"She doesn't," Sai sighed, "She was counting on you though. You're her two most powerful kunoichi. Her words, not mine. Apparently, the mission you and Ino completed last fall went over so well that she's positive if you two do it that you'll succeed."

No one noticed Sasuke still clenching and unclenching his fists, Lee's red face, or Shikamaru's possessive grasp. And no one said anything.

For the next two days, Sakura slept in Hinata's tent, avoiding Sasuke as much as possible. The slight mission would take place the next night, meanwhile, Naruto, Hinata, TenTen, Lee, Chouji, Kiba and Shino would sneak into the Akatsuki base and try to kill off some of the members. Sasuke, Shikamaru (who insisted they go along as 'extra' backup), Neji, and Sai would accompany the girls to the whore house and 'protect' them. There were supposed to be three Akatsuki in the house that night and three in the base. The other three had unknown positions. Those three were the unknown member, Kisame and Itachi. Supposing that the older Uchiha was really still alive.

The night of the mission came along rather quickly. Sakura and Ino had been quietly conferring everyday and secretly practicing their 'acts' as the rest of the team moved about, preparing for a fight.

**XxX**

"Here," Sasuke said, handing Sakura a bracelet, it was silver with a red-ish gem. He could see Shikamaru mirroring his actions with Ino out of the corner of his eye. Her gem was blue.

"What's this?" She hadn't spoken him since their fight, and still didn't want to.

"All you have to do is push chakra into the gem and we'll come running," Sasuke said quietly.

"Okay," Sakura said, beginning to walk away from him. He pulled her back.

"Sakura," Sasuke began.

"No, Sasuke. I told you. I'm_ done_," she turned and walked over to Ino, who linked arms with her and began walking towards the bar.

Sasuke sighed. _How could she be __**done**_?

**XxX**

"Ew," Sakura muttered under her breath as they entered the door way ahead of the guys. She ran a hand through her temporarily brown hair. "This place is gross."

"I second that," Ino smiled at a nasty looking man who was looking her up and down.

"Hey, Baby," he said, standing up and walking towards her, but thankfully, a man stepped in the way. He was wearing a yellow and brown suit. His face was shaved and he looked about 35, he wasn't attractive.. At ALL. He was balding, and seemed a bit too enthusiastic.

"Not just yet," he said to the man, and turned to the girls. "So, you're the replacements from mist? My lovely mist dancers. Ahh, my favorite kind."

Sakura suppressed a gag. He smelled like stale cigars and sex. "What happened to the other dancers?"

"They were in an _unfortunate_ accident," the man said. It was obviously a rehearsed answer. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about that. Come over this way, and just sit at the bar for a bit. I have some very important clients coming in tonight. Maybe i'll have them take a look at you two," he winked at them. "You come together, ne?"

"Yeah, we come together," Ino said, trying not to grimace.

"Alright then, Ladies. There's a changing room in the back for our dancers," he pointed to a back room with a green door. "There should be extra _uniforms_ in there."

"Okay," Sakura said lightly, pulling Ino away from the man and into the backroom.

It was filled with women. They found their names (Kana and Setsu) on a paper star on one of the tables. There were random shreds of clothing lying across it. They both chose the ones that were the most covering.

When Sakura and Ino, or rather, Kana and Setsu, emerged from the bar, all four of their male companions almost fainted.

Sakura had on a black and green corset with pink ribbon and a pair of extremely short black shorts. The 'outfit' if you could even call it that, was followed up with some pink eyeshadow and a pair of knee-high boots. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail at the back of her head.

Ino was sporting a light blue corset that accented her eyes with a short white mini-skirt. Her blonde hair was up in a bun with a few tendrils that had been curled to reach her shoulders. She was wearing a pair of beige stilettos that had light blue ribbon that wound half-way up her calf.

Needless to say, every man in the bar turned their heads and drooled. Including Neji and Sai.

"Think we overdid it?" Sakura asked quietly, noticing all the stares, strutting with confidence over to the bar and sliding on to a stool.

"Nah," Ino said, ordering two rum and coke's.

At the other end of the bar, Sasuke was downing a straight shot of vodka, watching Sakura flaunt and wave. Thankfully, she wasn't showing yet, and neither was Ino, he might add. They both looked extremely.. Screwable. He wasn't ashamed to think it either, cause he knew every other man in the bar was thinking it. Maybe even some of the other women.

He knew this was going to be a long night.

"Hey sexy," a girl about eighteen with long pale green colored hair slid into the spot beside him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Nope," Sasuke said downing another shot.

"Aww, C'mon," the girl said, her teal eyes shining, "Have a little fun."

"No," He repeated. She leaned over and wrapped her small pale hand around his arm.

"Oh, Baby, you know you want to. Someone hot like you-"

"I said no," She took the hint and pouted for a minute before getting up and going to hit on someone else.

"You aren't supposed to drink on the job," Sai said, sliding into the chair previously vacated by the stripper.

"Oh fucking well," Sasuke said, glaring daggers into his shot glass. He raised his head and watched as several guys approached Ino and Sakura. A few minutes later they were sent away by another man, probably the manager. Sasuke heard him use the word 'reserved' and gritted his teeth. As if the two girls were a piece of property. He knew Shikamaru was thinking in the same thing as he slid into the spot on the other side of Sasuke and ordered a shot of whiskey. Neji remained at his post by the door.

He saw the manager speak to the girls again and they nodded, standing up. To his surprise, they seemed relieved. He waited for the signal, which was Ino and Sakura clasping hands. They didn't. They walked back into the back room.

Suddenly the manager was on stage. "Gents, ahh. It's my pleasure to announce that the two prettiest girls here have agreed to do a strip tease! For you and only you! After their dance, we'll bid and the highest bidder gets to spend the night with these two!"

_So much for 'reserved'_, Sasuke thought, glaring hard, up at the stage.

"Of course, we're restricting the bidders to V.I.P.'s, so don't get too cocky gents. But if you go over to the window during their dance and buy a V.I.P. membership, you are allowed to bid! So hurry on over! They're only $300.00! And be sure to tip our favorite ladies! Kana and Setsu!"

Some music came on, and the lights were turned off. _This isn't normal stripping music_, Sasuke thought bluntly. _But then, how would I know?_ He was distracted when a blue light came on at the back of the stage and two figures encased in shadow came up from the sides. Everyone in the room just about held their breath.

And as the words started, a pink light came on over head, and it revealed his brunette kunoichi and Ino, both hanging on to stripper poles, wearing different outfits. He marveled at how _good_ they were at enticing him, they were engrossing the entire room.

_**I picked you out,**_

_**of a crowd and talked to you**_

_**said I liked your shoes,**_

_**you said 'thanks, can I follow you?'**_

_**so it's up the stairs, **_

_**and out of the eager, prying eyes**_

_**I poured some wine**_

_**I asked your name, you asked the time**_

_**and now it's 2 O'clock, the club is closed,**_

_**we're up the block, your hands on me,**_

_**pressing hard against your jeans**_

_**your tongue in my mouth**_

_**trying to keep the words from coming out,**_

_**you didn't care to know,**_

_**who else may have been you before...**_

_**I want a lover I don't have to love,**_

_**I want a girl who's too sad to give a fuck**_

_**hey, where's the kid with the chemicals?**_

_**I thought he said to meet him here but I'm not sure**_

_**I got the money if you got the time**_

_**you said 'It feels good'**_

_**I said 'I'll give it a try'...**_

_**Then my mind went dark**_

Sasuke thought the words were ironic. He felt sort of the same way. He hated loving her. It was a weakness, he was sure. He watched both Sakura and Ino dance, technically strip. His eyes were only for Sakura though as she slowly, memerizingly untied the ribbons on her light pink corset top, and slipped it down her body, over her slightly swaying hips...

Sasuke was dying.

_**Bad actor with bad habits**_

_**some sad singers, they just play tragic**_

_**and the phone's ringin and the van's leaving**_

_**let's just keep touching, let's just keep, keep singin**_

_**I want a lover I don't have to love **_

_**I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk**_

_**hey where's the kid with the chemicals?**_

_**I got a hunger that I can't seem to get full**_

_**I need some meaning I can memorize**_

_**the kind I have always seems to slip my mind**_

Finally, all both girls had left were their lingerie, and Sasuke just about dared her to take it off. If she was naked in front of the whole room, he'd give her hell. After he held her in his arms and told her how beautiful she was.

_**but you, but you, you write such pretty words**_

_**but life's no story book**_

_**love's an excuse to get hurt**_

_**and to hurt, do you like to hurt?**_

_**I do, I do, then hurt me...**_

_**Then hurt me...**_

_**Then hurt me, then hurt me,**_

_**then hurt me, then hurt me,**_

_**then hurt me, then hurt me,**_

_**hurt me...**_

The lights went out as the song ended, and when they flickered back on again, all the money that had been thrown on the stage, the girls, and their clothes were gone. The entire room was clapping, in a frenzy.

"The bidding starts at $1,000!" The manager's voice thumped over the speakers.

About all the men in the room rushed over to the window where you would normally bet. Sasuke was appalled. All these people wanted Sakura. Even if it was only for a night. He didn't understand. He could have her at pretty much anytime, and all these men were spending loads of cash. He just about rolled his eyes.

"Amazing," Sai said from the seat to his left. "All those losers want to screw Ugly."

"Stop calling her ugly," Sasuke said firmly, his eyes finding three black cloaks with red clouds on the balcony. They didn't look like they were bidding. Sasuke clenched his hand around his empty shot glass. "You think Yamanaka's beautiful?"

The Uchiha's question caught Sai off guard. "Eh. They're both good-looking."

"Then why do you call Sakura ugly?" Sasuke asked, sounding like he could care less.

"I already gave Sakura a nickname before I realized people are 'sensitive' about their appearances. So I called her the opposite. She's really just eh."

"Hn," Sasuke said, actually finding Sai's confession interesting.

"Are you watching them?" Shikamaru spoke up, indicating the three on the balcony.

"Aa."

"What's with them?" Sai asked, sounding bored.

"There are eleven of them. The leader, an unknown member, Hidan, Zetsu, Kakuzu, Deidara, Kisame, Tobi, and Itachi, Orochimaru and Sasori, who are believed to be dead. There was originally supposed to be ten, one for every finger," Shikamaru said quietly, "But now there are supposedly nine. Orochimaru was an original member. So was Sasori. When Sasori died, Tobi replaced him, and no one could replace Orochimaru because he still had his ring in his possession." Shikamaru informed him.

"So?"

"Tobi was inducted because of finding the ring. You have to have a ring. They are believed to be the most powerful organization besides the kage's. They are a bunch of very powerful people. They plan to extract all of the tailed beasts from their hosts, so that they will be in control."

"Ahh, you mean like the one inside Dickless," Shikamaru stared at him.

"Well, I'm going to talk to the ANBU captain," Sai smirked. "Later."

"Hn," Sasuke responded, watching the three members on the balcony.

XxX

"You know," Sakura said from back in the dressing room, "They never told us which members would be here."

"I already saw them. They were on the balcony eyeing us like pieces of meat," Ino shuddered. "I wish we'd never agreed to this."

"Who was it?"

"If I remember correctly, Hidan, Tobi and Kakuzu."

"Ohhh," Sakura slumped into her chair. "I hate my life."

A few minutes later, the manager appeared, grinning like the big fool he was. "Kana, Setsu! Well girls, you've made us a grand total of $10,000 in one night! Not including the singles that were thrown at you on stage! You of course, get to keep those. I'm going back on stage to announce the winners. You just go into the back suite, it's got two king sized beds in there. Be entertaining, ladies! You two are now officially my favorite employees!"

As he wobbled off down the corridor, Ino and Sakura rolled their eyes.

Back in the main room, the manager was parading around the stage. "WHOA WHOA WHOA!! Gentlemen, WE HAVE A WINNING BIDDER! Three, actually. Numbers 463, 365, 377, would you please go down the hall to the V.I.P. suite where your two lovely ladies are waiting!!? Have a nice night guys! We still have many other entertaining skits coming up, here's Hani and Ayame!" The two said girls appeared on the stage wearing geisha kimonos.

Sasuke sighed and waited.

XxX

Sakura and Ino were nervous. The suite was covered in tiger stripped wall paper. The begs were king sized with maroon blankets that had a picture of a roaring tiger on them. Everything was animal themed. Sakura didn't like the feeling that she was being fed to those tigers... she wasn't a piece of meat...

She involuntarily shuddered as the door opened and the light switch was flickered off. Three figures slipped inside, and Sakura and Ino backed up. The tiger light in between the beds was switched on, casting an eerie glow on the three Akatsuki members. In the glow, the clouds on their robes looked almost.. Yellow...

No one spoke. Sakura and Ino immediately started 'entertaining' the three, who sat back and watched with dangerous eyes. $10,000 dollars for two women?

One of the three beckoned Ino closer and she did as she was told, moving forward. He stood up and Sakura was still unable to see which member was which. Suddenly, the two Akatsuki was standing next to her, and they had her arms. She could make out Tobi's swirling face as his single eye hole bore into her. She felt so naked. He pushed her up against the wall and the other pinned her arms above her head. Sakura suddenly understood their intentions to rape her and let out a grunt. She struggled to get free and heard Ino shout and curse.

Sakura got one of her fists free and dropped her genjutsu, punching the one she didn't recognize hard in the face. He stumbled back and Sakura twisted free, and pushing chakra into her bracelet as she ran and jumped on the other Akatsuki's back. She could see his hand around Ino's neck... her feet were dangling off the floor. She was groaning and his other hand was trying to open her corset. He became irriated and shoved Sakura, who was hanging off his back like a doll and cut Ino's corset with a kunai he'd produced. He sliced just above her belly and below her bust, a deep cut. The other two Akatsuki were on Sakura again, one using a shuriken on her shoulder. The boys burst into the room and five heads turned towards the door. Ino was dropped to the floor, and she immediately threw up. Sakura crawled towards her, she knew she'd broken her ankle when she'd been thrown.

She heard the boys but ignored them, moving over and using most of her chakra to heal Ino's wound. Suddenly, Ino was grabbed up.

"Shika-kun?" She asked, her eyes too heavy to hold open because of the stress and blood loss.

Sakura screamed as a large arm came up around her waist. She was lifted from the ground and she realized there was a hole in the wall from the fight that was going on.

"Sasuke," she mumbled, and was surprised when she was dragged past him outside through the hole in the wall. _But then who..?_ She looked up and saw red clouds. She let out a scream and fell into unconsciousness.

Sasuke looked up just in time to see Ino and Sakura being taken into the woods by two of the Akatsuki members. He cursed and the lights flickered on revealing Tobi. Neji and Sai nodded to Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"Go!" Neji commanded, "Save them."

Shikamaru nodded and he and Sasuke disappeared out into the night after their loved ones.

**XxX**

OH! BOOM! CLIFF HANGER! Lol. I love you all very much. This chapter was longer, ne? I only have one test left which is next Tuesday!! Tomorrow I'll be crashing with my friends. It's gonna be fun. Maybe i'll get some more inspiration.. (wink wink) But I have the whole next few chapters planned out. We're getting closer to the end! But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter... ENJOY YOUR SUMMER TOO!

Review!

–rach


	20. Inside The Base Part I

1**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 20 (!!) Inside The Base **Part I**

**Warning:** Confusing chapter..?

**Distribution:** Ahh, just go check my other chapters, you should know my terms by now.

**Disclaimer:** Ahhh. ME NO OWN **NARUTO**. Rarr.

**A/N:** The reviewer's name was The Blood Of Wind, but Kit forgave her because K's such a forgiving person. I've probably slapped her in the face... and she's forgiven me. I think that was me. If it wasn't she's forgiven me about other stuff, lol. CHARACTER DEATH in the _**next**_ chapter! BEWARE. But, I left **HPBabe91** with that cliff hanger and so I thought I'd be nice and update... and maybe she'd update FOMD again... too?? Lol. Anyway, here you go! The next NEW chapter of SMG...

Oh, and Emi means SMILE. Hehe. :)

**XxX**

Sakura opened her eyes. She was lying on something... something.. Soft. Well, sort of. It certainly wasn't as comfy as Sasuke's muscular chest. Her cheeks flushed at this. It was a cot, big enough for... two people. Sure enough, she felt around and touched another person. Her hand traveled up their body and when she reached the hair, she knew it was Ino. Her eyes finally adjusted and she could make out their surroundings. They were in a room with stone walls. It smelled like her dream... the dank moldy smell.. The dripping water. She shuddered.

"Psst, wake up," She whispered to Ino, giving her a poke in the ribs. Ino stirred and opened her eyes to see Sakura's jade ones staring back into her own.

"Where are we?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, we got kidnaped. So, we're most likely in the Akatsuki base."

"Ohhh," Ino whined, feeling her wound. "You healed it didn't you?"

Sakura nodded. "Just before I passed out."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome. They have to be looking for us by now."

"Not if they're dead!" Ino said, her eyes filling with tears, though the darkness concealed this small fact.

"They are _NOT_ dead," Sakura said harshly. "Don't say things like that."

"There's a big chance that," Ino said quietly, "We're gonna die in here."

"The hell we are," Sakura retorted, standing up. She began to pace and realized she had enough chakra to probably bash through a few stone walls. "We're getting out." She raised her fist and brought it smashing down on the stone wall. It cracked and Sakura jumped back, her and Ino covering their heads. When the dust cleared, there was a hallway.

"Ready?" Sakura asked.

"Ready to give you a swift kick," Ino muttered. Sakura tugged Ino up and they scrambled out.

**XxX**

"What was that?" Hidan looked at Kakuzu with disgust. "You forgot to drain them of chakra, didn't you?"

Kakuzu glared right back. "So?"

"So now they're wandering around. Good fucking job, you fool."

"I hate you," Kakuzu shot back.

"I hate you, too. We finally agree on something."

"Hey," Deidara said, walking into the room, "What was that shaking all about?"

"Idiot here forgot to put the chakra restraints on the kunoichi prisoners."

"Fuck you," Kakuzu replied.

"Hmm, where's Tobi?" Deidara asked, expressionless.

"We left him. He was the one who insisted we go to that whore house," Hidan said glaring, "So we left him there to clean up the mess."

"He's the newest member, yeah," Deidara said glaring, "He doesn't know what he's doing, hmm. I guess I'm going to go help him."

"Whatever."

"Find the kunoichis and restrain them, yeah."

"Okay," Kakuzu said, walking off down the corridor.

**XxX**

"Kiba," Shino said into the microphone, "Where the hell did you and Chouji go?"

"We're around," Kiba's voice came back over the headphone, "Where'd you go?"

"I'm.. I don't know where. I'll send out some beetles," the faint sound of buzzing could be heard. "When you find one, follow it to me."

"Right," Kiba said, "Chouji, where are you, man?"

"Uhh..." there was some nervous chomping. "Behind you."

"Oh."

"Can anyone hear me?" There was some static and then Neji's voice was now echoing in their ears. "Hello?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Kiba said, waiting.

"Sai and I are taking care of Tobi. The other two Akatsuki members kidnaped the Wolf and the Cat. They took them back to the base. The Tiger and The Sloth are heading there now."

"Mmkay," Chouji chimed in, munching more chips. Akumaru let out a low whine.

"Nyyuhh...Holy fuck!" Shino shouted, scaring Kiba and Chouji. Shino never shouted. That would mess up his cool, calm façade.

"What is it?" Kiba asked, "Are you being attacked?"

"I just found.. Ino and Sakura?"

"Are they okay?"

"They're more than okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. They're half-naked."

"SHIT."

"Shino!" Ino cried, throwing herself on the boy, "Thank KAMI!"

"Uhm..." Sakura smiled at him. "Can we get out of here now?" The buzzing noise was giving her the creeps. She could almost feel the bugs crawling all over her. It sent shivers down her spine. She had the goose bumps. Ino's smile faded and she backed up a step as well.

"Yeah, we really need to get out of here. Hey, can I steal your ear phone.. Then maybe I can get in contact with Shikamaru."

Shino nodded, not saying anything. They looked _really hot_. He stopped suddenly. "There's a member ahead."

"Which one?" Sakura asked.

"Zetsu. He's a plant. Like a Venus fly trap."

"Oh. How do you know he's up ahead?" Ino asked.

"He just ate my beetle."

"Oh," Kiba said, joining the conversation. "Be careful. We just ran into a beetle, it's leading us to you."

"Alright. I'll hold him off for as long as I can," Shino said quietly, motioning for the girls to get behind him. He handed Ino the earphone, which she put on and began asking around for Shikamaru. She got no response from him, but began talking to Chouji.

"Well, if he was here then we could meet up. Sakura's not very useful and then I wouldn't worry cause we could always use the InoShikaCho combo."

Sakura glared at her.

A while later they were still moving down the hall way. It had gotten to the point where there was no light at all. For some reason, Shino could see, so Sakura and Ino had decided to be quiet... until now.

"I can't see anything."

"And I can?" Came the blonde's retort, "What did you expect?"

"I don't know. A light of some kind. It's hard to believe they can all see in the dark." A long sigh came from the blonde and It echoed in the darkness. "What? Okay, fine. No more expectations from now on," Sakura said quietly.

"Good. Don't expect a birthday present."

"You're so mean."

"You're being stupid," Ino responded.

"It's cause I'm near you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your blonde-ness is rubbing off on me."

"I guess it is, billboard brow, blonde-ness isn't a word."

"And how would you know that, BLONDIE?"

"Shut up, Forehead!"

"You shut up, Ino-pig!"

"Shhh," Shino had been quiet, trying to ignore their conversation but could no longer take it. "We're getting closer, no more noise."

The previously arguing pair clasped hands. They smiled at each other in the dark. The wonders of pregnant woman. Hmm.

**XxX**

Shikamaru and Sasuke ended up inside. How? They didn't know. All they knew is that they had somehow gotten past the seals and into the base. Their problems were as follows: **a) **They'd lost their kunoichis, **b)** they'd gotten lost, and **c)** they were unsure of their surroundings. Not that Sasuke would admit it. Uchiha's didn't get lost. They knew their surroundings and they _certainly never_ lost track of their women. Hmph.

He heard Shikamaru mutter his infamous phrase and then suddenly, there was static on his headphone. "Hello?"

"Sasuke!" There, on the other end was Naruto's voice. "Kuso, Hinata-chan, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, N-Naruto-kun," came the response.

"What's going on?"

"We ran into an Akatsuki member but we couldn't fight him.. He was too strong," Sasuke knew that was hard for Naruto to admit, so the member must've been powerful.

"Where are you?"

"Like I know," Naruto scoffed, "Where are you, Sasuke-teme?"

"In the base somewhere, Dobe. I can feel TenTen's chakra."

"O-kay," Naruto growled, "I can feel.. I think that's.. HEY LEE!?"

"HELLO, NARUTO!! I HAVE FOUGHT OFF A BAD MAN!"

"Lee, stop shouting," Shikamaru said into the headphone, "Is TenTen with you?"

"YES!"

"Shop shouting," Shikamaru repeated, "I can feel her chakra.. And now Naruto's.. You're only a little ways away from us."

Shikamaru began moving towards their chakras when Sasuke stopped.

"What is it, Uchiha?"

"Sakura."

Sasuke turned and ran the other way just as Naruto, TenTen, Hinata and Lee came around the corner. Shikamaru waved at them to follow him and then turned and went in the direction Sasuke had left in.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He knew she couldn't see. He knew none of them could see. He could only see because of his sharingan. She jumped.

"Sasuke-kun!" The honorific was back, and he was grateful for it. She wrapped her small but strong arms around him and squeezed. He closed his eyes, a smirk on his lips.

"SHIKA-KUN!" Ino shrieked, turning and seeing a shape behind Sasuke.

"Ino," Shikamaru greeted and was inveloped in a hug.

"Sasuke, I'm so so so very sorry," Sakura said. They were off in their own little group to the side. "I'm not done... I'm never done..I can't be done. I was just..."

"Look," Sasuke said, his hands grabbing her upper arms. "I love you, that's all that matters. You are the only person that I've ever felt this way about before. So don't reject me. Uchihas do not take rejection well."

Sakura stared at him, her eyes wide. "Did you really just say that?"

Sasuke paused, looking shocked. "Yeah, I think I did."

Kiba and Chouji came out of the darkness in front of the girls, Ino running to hug Chouji as well. Suddenly, Hinata, Naruto, Lee, TenTen, Sasuke, Sakura, InoShikaCho, and Kiba were all in a big group.

"Where's Shino?" Kiba asked, squinting in the darkness.

Sakura and Ino fixated their eyes on the ground.

"Ino?" Kiba asked, "Sakura?"

"He's dead," Sakura said quietly. Silently she and Ino allowed tears to well up in their eyes.

**XxX**

"ARRRGGH!" Kikumaru growled, feeling his skin break from tugging at the metal bindings that held him in his chair. He pulled again and finally wiggled his hands free. He was bleeding badly but broke out anyway, and tore out of the tent. Why the heck did they leave him unguarded? He felt a pang in his chest. He was probably no use to him now and they didn't care what happened to him.

He glared at the empty campsite and moved quickly through the woods. It only took him a few minutes to reach the base and get in, because he knew his way around. Once in, he made his way to his girlfriend's room.

"Shira," Kikumaru whispered, "Are you here?"

"Kikumaru!" Shira jumped out of the darkness, "Ohmigosh, what happened to you?!"

"I got caught. We have to get out of here. I heard my captor's talking. They caught Emi. That's why Itachi came back alone. Because they caught her. We have to hurry and get out of here. She's being kept in Konoha. Your father recruited Itachi to get her and bring her here."

"My mother was a very crazy woman," Shira said quietly. "I thought she left Itachi after he got her out of the village."

"No. He fought his little brother and his little brother killed him. Emi got captured and then they brought Itachi back from the dead. We've gotta get out of here. If we don't they'll kill us both and we won't be able to break Emi out of the Konoha prison."

"Right."

They pushed Shira's bed out of the way and the floor revealed a black iron trapdoor. Shira leaned down and pulled it up with out breaking a sweat. She looked at Kikumaru. Kikumaru leaned in and kissed her fiercely.

"I missed you," he said.

"I missed you, too."

They descended down the trap door route, into the darkness.

**XxX**

**So now you know! Emi was the crazy blonde that called Ino a buta!! Shira is the girl that Kisame threatened... And Shira's father is one of the Akatsuki! Which is why she knew that they couldn't kill her. Cause then there'd be hell to pay. Which is a hint. Cause if there would be hell to pay, then you know that Shira's daddy must be one of the more powerful members.. Cause he recruited ITACHI and his **_**evil!**_**hotness. -Sigh- anyway, this was a confusing chapter and in the next one Shino's **_**death**_** will be explained... in full detail.. SO BEWARE! You have been warned! I'm really sorry all of the Shino Lovers!! But it was Ino or Shino, and bug boy was the one to go. :( There are still more deaths to come! And there are only a few chapters left of STAND MY GROUND... but can anyone say, "**_**SEQUEL**_**"? I can. Sequel, sequel, sequel! You know. To tie up all the loose ends and cliffies I'm planning. :) **

**REVIEW!**


	21. Inside The Base Part II

1**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter: **21- Inside The Base **Part II**

**Warning:** Character death!

**Distribution:** Checketh a past chapter or my profile for my terms.

**Disclaimer:** Once again... I don't own **NARUTO**. And I'm really starting to hate these things.

**A/N: **When I put things like **SakuXKiba** in bold, it does not mean they are suddenly a pairing in the story. It's like _ENTER: SAKURA AND KIBA!_ in a subtle way. Deidara has only one arm right now. He didn't get the other cut off, and he didn't get them restored. Yet. Also, the fight with Deidara, Tobi and Sasuke never happened, and they have never seen the C2 Dragon. I'm warning you, this _**isn't**_ EXTREMELY detailed, but it's somewhat gross. Like ew. But it's not that bad. Trust me, the worst emotionally stressing chapter has yet to come. _**BEWARE.**_ But here it is, CHAPTER 21!! Yay! Only a few left to go! I don't know how Zetsu and Tobi fight, because they're never really shown... but I did my best. Zetsu, I don't really get into detail on his fighting style, but he has this like, poison in his blood that makes Shino's bugs do what they do. And Tobi.. well, you'll just have to read and find out. Oh, I posted _Awakening_ and _A Different Outcome _two or three days ago. They have rushed endings cause I was working on this, but you should read them and review anyways cause you love me. They're both SasuSaku.

**XxX**

"What do you mean, 'he's dead'?!" Kiba yelped, accompanied by a short low whine from Akumaru.

"Well, he... he..." Ino clenched her eyes shut. "I can't do this!"

"Hey, calm down," Shikamaru said slowly, grasping Ino's forearm gently. She moved into his arms, a whimper sounding from her slightly parted lips.

"He... saved our lives," Sakura mumbled, her eyes cast downwards on her hands. "We tried to help him but..."

Sasuke's eyes landed on her hands. They had several small but deep wounds. "Sakura.. Your hands..." She tore her eyes away from them, squeezing her eyelids shut.

"What happened?" Kiba asked, "What happened?!"

"K-Kiba," Hinata said quietly, "J-just listen."

"Well, you see," Sakura began, her mind drifting back.

**Flashback!xCharacterDeath!**

"_Stay behind me," Shino said suddenly, causing both girls to twitch. "He's very close. Another of my beetles has met their demise," he said grimly. "That worthless plant is in for it."_

_Sakura and Ino did as they were told, following closely behind their 'friend'. _

"_Shino," Ino asked quietly, "Weren't Kiba and Chouji supposed to be meeting us?"_

"_Mhm," he answered shortly._

_In a quick flash, the two girls were shoved backwards behind an archway that they hadn't seen. Shino was on the other side, one of his bugs, a spider, building a web across the arch way._

"_SHINO! What are you doing?!" Ino asked, alarmed, "You're trapping yourself!"_

_Shino didn't answer, and Sakura, still sprawled on the ground, pulled a glow stick out of NO WHERE and cracked it, throwing it through the small crevice at the bottom of the arch that the spider hadn't reached yet. It skidded through and hit Shino's sandal. He bent, his eyes never leaving the darkness in front of him, and picked up the glow stick._

"_Thank you," he muttered._

_He held it up, and several bugs came out o_

_f his sleeve, taking the glow stick from him and holding it to the ceiling. With the small orange light casting a glow, they could see the form of another. He was tall, an Akatsuki robe flowed around him and his head was encased in a venus fly trap._

_The girls picked themselves up and stared, open-mouthed._

"_Finally," it murmured, "An opponent."_

_In the blanket of silence, you could hear a pin drop._

"_S-Shino," Ino whispered, taking a step towards the web._

"_Stop," He demanded, shaking his head, still watching Zetsu. "You can't break through that. Nobody outside of my clan can. It's a web of metal that a special spider of mine spins. A defense if you please."_

"_Why are you sacrificing yourself? Why didn't you place the web there to keep him in, instead of keep us out!?" Sakura shouted, frantically._

"_What's done is done," He said quietly, reminding her of Sasuke. "I have made my choice."_

_Sakura and Ino stared. _

_Zetsu, who was suddenly impatient, threw shuriken at Shino that he dodged. They continued towards the arch and the two unsuspecting kunoichis watched in horror as they hit the web and bounced off like nothing._

"_Go," he told the girls, "Go now."_

"_NO!" Ino growled, "WE'RE NOT LEAVING ANYONE BEHIND!"_

_Zetsu sent out another attack, and Shino sent out a bunch of his insects. The buzzing made Sakura's skin crawl and she saw them attack the Akatsuki member. Shino sent his other hand up, and more bugs covered the glow stick. Darkness. The girls could hear the shouts of jutsus, and Sakura ignited another glow stick. She threw it at the web, and as she expected, it bounced back. It was when she was bending to pick it up that she heard the agonized scream. Ino jumped back, slamming into a wall, and Sakura shrieked and fell over. _

"_NO!" She heard Shino shouting._

"_SHINO! SHINO, WHAT'S GOING ON!?"_

"_R-RUN! RUN DA-DAMN IT!" Shino stuttering?_

_She heard another yell, one that didn't come from Shino. Sakura held the glow stick up and advanced for the webbed archway. She could see her glow stick reflected off the strong titanium metal web. The glow stick cast a glow just inside the arch, but she couldn't see anything. Then, all of a sudden, Shino's form came flying and smashed into the web. _

"_SHINO!" Ino and Sakura yelled. Sakura gasped when she saw a swarm of Shino's bugs come towards the boy's wounded form. She could just make out Zetsu's silhouette, he was standing there, watching. Shino stood up, glaring and straightening his glasses. He stepped forward and sent a barrage of bugs flying at Zetsu. He stepped back, his fingers quickly forming hand signs, but not quickly enough. The bugs landed and began tearing away the flesh on his hands, they couldn't see the plant-man's yellow eyes, but Sakura assumed he had a horrified expression. Then, Zetsu laughed, even as the bugs began to eat away at him. _

"_THEY'LL GET YOU TOO!" Sakura heard him yell at Shino, "IT'S IN MY BLOOD!" A few moments and screams later, the body of the Akatsuki member lay dead on the ground. Sakura could see the pool of blood around the corpse. But an exhausted Shino caught her eye as he moved towards the web and collapsed. _

"_I CAN'T GET TO HIM!" Sakura screeched, clawing at her hair._

_His bugs came forward, and landed on his body._

"_Are they healing him? Forming a shield?" Ino asked, and was answered with an agonized scream coming from the boy. _

_Sakura pushed on the web and only received stinging cuts on her hands, Shino's bugs were eating him alive. She could see them, buzzing, taking bites out of his flesh... On one of his legs, Sakura could see they had already eaten clean through to the bone. He was screaming, trying to make them stop... _

"_SHINO!"_

"_GO!" She heard him, pain laced in his voice, "I CAN'T S-STOP THEM! THEY'LL COME AFTER YOU TOO, G-GO! I'm sor-sorr..." _

_Ino forcefully grabbed Sakura's arm and yanked her down the corridor. The last thing she saw was the glow stick drop from the ceiling._

**EndFlashBackxCharacterDeathScene!**

"And then we found you guys," Ino said finally, "We didn't know what to do," She snuggled into Shika's embrace.

"Well at least he took an Akatsuki with him," Kiba muttered, Akumaru whimpered and Hinata had tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, at least."

**XxX**

"Haha," Tobi replied to Neji's previous statement of 'You're done'. "I'm an Akatsuki," Tobi said with pride, "I'm powerful!"

Sai, who was scribbling on a scroll, rolled his eyes. "Shut up, cheese face."

"CHEESE FACE?" Tobi growled, "I AM NOT A CHEESE FACE! THIS MASK IS AN AMAZING WORK OF ART!"

Neji's smirk was in place as he called out to Sai. "Are you done yet?"

"Almost," Sai answered, putting the finishing touches on a tiger that was drawn on the scroll. "Done." He invoked the scroll, and the tiger jumped right off the page. Literally. It's loud growl echoed across the terrain outside the strip club, and Tobi stepped back. Sai imagined that he had a terrified look under his mask, but due to the lack of expression painted on it, he didn't know. "Alright, Cheese Face, take a look. This is real art."

The tiger made it three fourths of the way across the field to Tobi before a loud explosion rang through their ears. Deidara, an unreadable expression on his girlish face, stood triumphant on the back of a large clay owl. "No, _this_ is real art."

"SENPAI!" Tobi shrieked, "HEY, Deidara-SENPAI!!"

Deidara unconsciously rolled his visible eye. "Tobi, you idiot," he said, swooping down on the owl, snatching Tobi off the ground, "There's been a breach in our base."

"Okay, Senpai, are we to return?"

"As soon as we finish these losers off, yeah," Deidara answered, his hand in his bag of clay, the mouth chewing and creating more chaos.

Sai's tiger roared, but Sai was once again hunched over another scroll. Neji uselessly chucked several shuriken at the owl, all catching the clay creation in the stomach. The bird didn't falter, only continued to circle the grounds like a vulture. Suddenly, Sai stood up, invoking the scroll he'd been drawing on and standing before them was a life sized tyrannosaurus rex.

Tobi sucked his breath in, Deidara's eye was wide. "Well that's new, mmm!"

"Wow," Tobi said, watching the T-rex in awe. "I always wanted a dinosaur."

Deidara rolled his eye again and they flew over the dinosaur, dropping explosive clay. Sai directed the dinosaur to side step all of it, and get the bird out of the sky.

**§asuX§aku**

"So what now?" Chouji asked, suspiciously watching his two teammates. "What do we do?"

"We have to split up again," Sasuke said, taking command, "We're in a big group. There's no way we can go around un-noticed."

"So who goes with who?" Kiba asked, watching them warily.

Sakura looked thoughtful. "Well, I've been with Ino thus far, and.. Uhm..."

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice was firm as he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I'm not letting you out of my sight again."

"You're needed elsewhere," She shot back, "And I'm not a child. I can take care of myself."

"Well, when you were easily knocked out and kidnaped, I thought different," he retorted.

She glared up at him.

"I'm not going with Sasuke," She said to everyone. They stared, Sasuke glared.

"Like hell you're not," he whispered in her ear.

"I think we should stick with old teammates," Kiba said quietly.

"Who wants to stick with that idea?" Sasuke, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto shook their heads yes.

"That's fine," Sakura said, "but one of us would have to go with someone who wasn't their teammate. I'd be with Ino."

"You want to be with Ino?" TenTen stared at her. "Ay-yi-yi, make up your mind."

"WHOA! You can't stick me with teme! I'd kill him!"

"As if, Dobe."

Everyone nodded, they were fine with that. Except Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Wait," Shikamaru said, "I'm second in command to Neji. And since Neji's not here..."

Ino was getting confused.

"The groups are as follows," he began, when Ino leaned into his ear. He frowned but nodded. Then she went over to Sakura and whispered in her ear. Everyone was watching them. Sakura sighed and nodded, glaring at Sasuke the entire time. "Kiba and Hinata. TenTen and Lee. Chouji and myself, Ino and Sakura, and Naruto and Sasuke."

"HELLO!?" Naruto shouted. "I can't be with the TEME!"

"Plus, that would make no sense," TenTen said, "They are the two strongest people here. They shouldn't be together."

"Fine, fine," Shikamaru said, sighing. "Troublesome... TenTen, just go with Lee. Hinata, go back with Naruto. Kiba, go with Ino. Sasuke, go with Sakura, and Chouji, come with me."

"Who's going after who?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Well. Neji and Sai are fighting with Tobi. By now Deidara has probably gone to help his partner. Zetsu is dead," Ino and Sakura winced, "So that leaves Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu, the leader, the unknown member, and Itachi, if he's alive." Shikamaru paused, pondering something. "Well, TenTen and Lee, you two should get out of here, go help Neji and Sai."

"HAI!" Lee shouted, dragging TenTen in the opposite direction.

"Uh, Naruto, you're one of the strongest. You and Hinata go after the unknown member. Sasuke and Sakura, go after Kisame, Sakura, also, after you've defeated Kisame, go with the Hokage's original plan and find both me and Ino. All three of us will defeat the leader. Kiba, while you're with Ino, go after Kakuzu. Chouji and I will go after Hidan. Everyone got that?" Everyone shouted 'Hai'.

"Ino," Shikamaru said carefully while the groups began to separate, "Be careful. Your dad would have my head if you got hurt."

Ino nodded and walked away. Kiba growled, but followed Ino away from the group.

Sakura walked away as well. Sasuke inwardly smirked. _Thank Kami._ It was like a wave of relief washed over him. Now he'd be with her, and he'd be able to protect her. And his baby.

**Tobi&DeidaraXNeji&Sai**

"SENPAI!" Tobi shouted as the t-rex grabbed a hold of the owl's wing with its teeth, "DEIDARA-SENPAI!!! What are we going to DO!??"

Deidara rolled his eye again and threw a bunch of small explosives at the t-rex, who immediately let go to avoid the blasts. Too bad for Deidara, the dinosaur had bitten clean through the owl's wing. Though, he smiled when he realized the t-rex must've taken a chunk of the wing in it's mouth. Suddenly, a large chunk of his own clay came flying up at him, and landed right on the owl's head. It exploded and caused the entire bird to explode. Tobi and Deidara jumped off about three and a half seconds before the bird detonated, and landed not too gracefully on the ground. Deidara cursed and stood, brushing himself off, turning his attention to the dinosaur.

"TOBI," he barked, "Take care of the cat."

"It's not a cat," Sai called. "It's a tiger."

"Same thing, mmm," Deidara sneered, throwing several bombs up at the dinosaur.

**XxX**

**Uhm. Well. Yeah. I really don't have any excuse for my no-updatey fiasco. I'm just really really sorry? I got kicked out of my mom's house and we got in this big fight... not necessarily in that order... and so I was bouncing for house to house last week. Again, I'm really sorry!! Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEJI!!!**


	22. The Rubbish Chapter

1**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 22 -The Rubbish Chapter

**Warning:** Just a slightly irritated Sakura and some fluffy flashbacks.;) Oh, and maybe a _lemon_. Or two. Who knows? Maybe even a few sneak peeks!

**Distribution:** Checketh thee bio.

**Disclaimer:** I Do Not Own NARUTO or any of the characters in NARUTO.

**Claimer:** Muahaha. I own Emi, Shira and Kikumaru. Well, I don't really own Kikumaru cause I kinda stole the idea of him in general from _The Prince of Tennis_... Say hello to Kikumaru Eiji!! (laughs, then grins sheepishly) **Kit-Kat, You're probably getting a kick out of this. Didn't you notice the similarities between Kikumaru in my story and EIJI!?? **

**A/N:** Yo. I know it's sad that I use the word rubbish. No need to inform me. I'm a dork, and sadly, I am proud. Oh, and yes, I am trying to make Kakuzu come off as stupid. He's not really stupid in the series, so he's a bit OOC, but it helps me to make with the funnies. I'm trying to stall the ending of this fic, if you haven't noticed. Lol. I'm using chapter 22 to give our favorite couple some depth and some extra fluff. BEWARE OF DE FLUFFETHNESS. Yes, I know that fluffethness is not a word, but I am QUEEN of this fic, and I say it is, so there!** And there will be at least one lemon. **;) Anyway, ignore my idiocy, here's the chapter.

**SasuXSaku**

"You're so.. Ugh," Sakura was saying, fists clenched, stomping somehow _quietly_ down the hallway of the base. "You always have to have it your way. Mr. I'm-So-Pretty-You-Must-Obey. Sometimes I just wanna–"

Sasuke, who hadn't said anything during her angry rant decided to interrupt, "Did you just call me pretty?"

Sakura stopped in her tracks, and turned, another one of those cruel smirks on her lips, "Yeah. Got a problem with it, _Sasu-chan_?"

Despite the coolness of the dank, damp stone hallways, Sasuke's neck and ears turned a deep red. Thankful that she couldn't see in the dark (dim at best) lighting, he narrowed his eyes. "If I'm a woman now, then how is it possible that we're going to have a kid together? Are you a man now?"

Taken aback by his _interesting_ retort, Sakura snorted, "As if."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You're so childish all of the sudden."

"Well, you're an asshole all of the sudden. Oh no, wait, it's always been that way. My mistake."

Sasuke ignored her and slipped ahead of her to lead. He missed her glare and muttered snort of 'typical', after closing his eyes and making a hand sign. Stopping and concentrating for a moment he opened his eyes and looked back at her.

"Kisame's about a half a mile up ahead. He's with somebody but their chakra's too faint, I can't tell who it is."

"I know that," Sakura said, obviously irritated. "I've been unconciously monitoring it for the last fifteen minutes. I'm a chakra expert, It's like a natural thing."

She pushed ahead of him and began her quiet march down the corridor but Sasuke stopped her and grabbed the crook of her arm. She groaned and turned her head to look at him, "Now what?"

"Look Sakura, I don't know what the issue is, but it's getting in the way of the mission. So spit it out, tell me what's wrong."

"Why do you care? All you want is this baby. I'm like a... vessel. I only carry the child and when it's born, there will be no more use for me."

Sasuke stared at her, the emotionless façade in place. His burning onyx eyes were watching her with an amused look, but on the inside, he was astonished. _How could she think that? A vessel? No, never. Did she not get the fact that I love her more than I've ever loved anyone in my life? God damn it._

**SHORT LEMON.**

Without warning, he grabbed her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes, emerald and obsidian clashing, Sakura swore there were sparks as his lips collided with hers, teasing, forceful, demanding, loving, irritated, thoughtful, grudging, caring, annoyed, amused, strong, stable, lustful, aroused, rebellious, driven, vengeful, helpful, lost, wounded, tired, anxious, excited, hungry, tempted, broken, connected, hurt, burning, daring. All those emotions that he never showed, the ones that were never readable in his eyes, everything that he was, it was all thrown into the kiss that sent Haruno Sakura into a chaotic frenzy.

He pushed her up against the wall, unzipping her top as he went, leaving her breathless as his lips traveled down her now exposed chest. She was breathing in huffs of air, panting as his lips ravaged her breasts. She could feel his teeth biting and scraping, his tongue sliding across her flesh. It never crossed her mind that this was not the place or time, that they were on a mission, that they were on an A-rank mission. S-rank if you wanna get technical. Not one thought about the fact that someone could come around the corner any second, a friend or foe, teammate or Akatsuki, that they could be caught, that they could be killed.

The only thought in her head was Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. She could only feel him, his eyes, his body, his mouth, his _tongue_. Only Uchiha Sasuke.

And for once in his life, he wasn't thinking about the mission. Or the future. Sasuke could only think of her. He could only think of what he wanted to do to her, what he wanted to do _with_ her, share with her, _create_ with her. He could only think of her name, and her body, her pink hair and her moans, which had the breathless pant of '_SASUKE_' at the end.

She felt her skirt being unzipped and pushed up, her shorts, they were somehow already on the ground, she didn't care, she wanted him and only him, and she wanted him _now_. She was drowning in his eyes, the onyx orbs that were focused on her.

She heard him unzip his pants, her legs were wrapped around his waist, one hand braced on the wall, the other cradling her butt with hers around his neck, and then he was there, melting with her, moving with her, relieving her. He was her rock, her stable person, her man. He was her love. Not only her lover, but her love. Her true one. The emotion that was in his eyes, the night they first performed the act, it was back and Sakura suddenly understood what it was. And she wasn't willing to share it with anyone.

Together they released every bit of anger that both had been harboring, they released their feelings, and they released their doubts. And when it was over, they were both panting, clinging to each other, fused together by a film of sweat and tears, which were still sliding down the kunoichi's cheeks.

As Sasuke's breathing slowed, he lifted his head from her chest and braced one hand back on the wall, bringing the other up to wipe her tears. Their foreheads pressed together, they both thought of the past months, the past memories. The good ones.

**LEMON. OVER.**

**MEMORY.** _**SasuXSaku, NaruXHina**_

"_I don't know why you're so stubborn," Sakura said, eyes rolling, "It's just a pair of pants. You need new ones. Accept and deal. We're going to the store."_

"_It's not the pants I have an issue with," Sasuke grunted, "It's the fact that you invited the dobe."_

"_What's wrong with Naruto coming with us? He buys pants. And he's your best friend."_

"_So?"_

"_So, it's fine. Now hurry up, we're meeting Naruto at Hinata's house in thirty-five minutes."_

_Exactly thirty-five minutes later, to the second because Sakura had set the timer, they were standing at Hinata's door, Sakura's hand poised to knock. Sasuke grunted and pushed the doorbell, sending a loud chime through out the house. A loud thud could be heard with a 'Ohmigosh, Naruto, are you okay?' some giggles, an 'I'm fine!' a couple footfalls and then the door was opened to reveal a slightly disheveled Naruto. He flashed them a toothy grin and stepped to the side, motioning for them to enter. They did as they were motioned and walked cautiously into the living room. A few minutes later, Hinata greeted them from the kitchen, and walked in with a plate of cookies and a pot of tea, which she gingerly set on the coffee table and took a seat beside her blonde boyfriend. _

"_So, are we ready to go?! Are we?" Naruto asked, stuffing two cookies in his mouth._

"_Uhm, how about you finish those first," Sakura suggested warily, "I'm sure Hinata-chan doesn't want to clean up your puke, which is what you're going to do if you keep eating like that."_

"_Sakura-chan, I always eat like this and I haven't gotten sick since I drank that bad milk back when we were genin. I remember that day. I tied up Sasuke-teme and pretended to be him. You almost kissed me!"_

_Sakura blushed a dark shade of maroon before she stood up shouting, "NARUTO! THAT WAS YOU!!?"_

_Naruto's eyes bulged before he dove over the back of the couch, cowering away from her wrath, "Oi, Sakura-chan! I thought you knew!"_

"_OF COURSE I DIDN'T YOU IDIOT!"_

_Naruto winced and clambered over a chair as Sakura stomped menacingly towards him. But then Sasuke was there, holding her back as Hinata looked on with unnaturally wide eyes. _

"_If I'm not allowed to kill him, neither are you," Sasuke said with a smirk, he had pinned her hands behind her back and she struggled against him. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "If you don't stop that, we're going to have to go home because you're getting me–"_

_He was cut off when Naruto suddenly yelped, Hinata's eyes wider than ever, Sasuke realized a little too late that Sakura hd gotten one hand free and was about to clock him. Well, mainly his family jewels. With all the chakra that was loaded into the small but dangerous fist, Sasuke was sure that if she hit home, there would be nothing left to speak of. Ever._

"_SAKURA." _

_The room was silent. Sasuke had raised his voice, and it was just a little bit scary. Her hand had stopped just before the pain would've come, and he could feel her fist brushing his pants. A close one avoided. He leaned down again, releasing her hands and placing them on her shoulders. He quietly asked her, "Do you want me to be the lone Uchiha forever?"_

_Sakura winced and she brushed him off, going to help Naruto up, who was still staring wide eyed at Sasuke. Once up, they decided to leave the house, there would be no calamities in public._

_Thirty more minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura were locked in a men's dressing room, trying to stifle their moans. And once more, the innocence that is Naruto knocked on the dressing room door, asking if Sasuke was alright cause he sure was groaning a lot. _

"_The pants aren't really that bad, are they?" Naruto asked, laughing nervously and running a hand through his sun kissed bright blonde hair._

"_Y-yes," Came Sasuke's forced response. "The fucking pants suck."_

_Sakura was sure that if people were allowed to walk around with their pants off, Sasuke would be doing it. He had nothing to be ashamed of. She smirked at this thought, and—_

**MEMORY. OVER. **

–Was suddenly pulled out of the memory when Sasuke moved. A few minutes later, fully clothed and no longer arguing, they were standing in front of Hoshigaki Kisame.

**XxX**

**Hmm. Short chapter. Gomen-nasai, everyone. I've been taking care of this baby barn swallow that my stupid but loveable cat (Tigger) knocked out of a tree early yesterday morning. She's so small that she's got barely any feathers and she still does that 'tweet tweet' thing and opens her mouth when she's hungry. I fed her water with an eyedropper. I love her. Her leg is broken and birds can't survive with only one leg in the wilderness and Jordan, here, doesn't seem to have ANY feeling in the bad leg. I'm no vet but I'm not stupid, I can tell it's broken. The leg was bending at weird angles when she moved and she didn't make a sound. I named her/him Jordan cause I like the name Jordan for both boys and girls, and so it's like a neutral name. I'll finish this when I get back from the vet. ;) Back! I took Jordan to the vet and they were like, 'Oh, well if the doc can't fix the leg, we'll have to put it to sleep.' I was like, 'Yo. **IT'S** name is JORDAN. **_**JORDAN**_** has a heart, so maybe you should get one too. If she/he can't survive out there with one leg I'll take care of her/him. You don't need to kill her/him.' and they were all, 'No, no, you can't do that, it's a wild bird, it has diseases.' I was like, 'ARE YOU SERIOUS?? YOU ARE A VET. CURE THE DISEASE THEN. Jordan slept in my bed with me last night, do I CARE if she/he has diseases? NO! GIMME the damn BIRD!' but they wouldn't let me have her back. They were all, 'It's a state bird, it's ours now' and I miss her. :( Gosh. One night and she had my heart. I like to refer to Jordan as a her cause idk why. She was a girl to me. :P**

**It's depressing. But I'll live. I hope Jordan will too. :(**

**Happy reviewing.**

**If you don't feel like it, at least review out of sympathy and cheer me up.**

_**Next Chapter Comedic Sneak Peeks:**_

_**Tobi & Deidara vs. Sai, Neji, TenTen & Lee! **_

"_Okay, Lee!" TenTen shouted from the other direction, "Kick him!"_

"_WITH ALL OF MY YOUTHFULNESS?"_

"_Sure, Lee."_

"_YOUTH, YOUTH, YOUTH, I AM THE BLOSSOM OF YOUTH, YOUTH, YOUTH!"_

"_Will somebody shut that kid up!?" Tobi yelled, slapping a hand to his mask._

_Lee growled and lunged forward at Deidara and Tobi, who were slightly distracted with the t-rex. Tobi moved out of the way of Lee's flying kick which meant that Deidara..._

"_MMMMMMMM!"_

"_I thought you said that one with the blonde hair was a girl?" TenTen asked Sai, an eyebrow raised looking slightly perplexed as Deidara fell to the ground in pain, the kick to his lower domain still burning._

"_I AM NOT A GIRL!"_

_**Kisame vs. Sakura & Sasuke!**_

"_So sharky, how's living with no water? You've sure got the gills," she grinned at him. "Having a hard time breathing?"_

"_I'm doing just fine, kunoichi, now make a move."_

"_Maybe I don't want to make a move, maybe I want to stand here and taunt you," She looked around the room at Sasuke. "And everybody in here seems to be okay with that," she added brightly._

_**Hidan & Kakuzu vs. InoShikaCho & Kiba!**_

"_Hey, don't we know her?" Kakuzu asked Hidan as Ino began performing the proper hand signs for her mind transfer jutsu._

"_Yeah, that's the whore that Tobi paid like 10,000 for."_

"_HEY!" Ino growled, the mark on her forehead showing her displeasure, "I AM NOT A WHORE. I am a woman of many talents, and I am about to use them to beat your asses all the way back to hell."_

"_But we were never in hell," Kakuzu said, frowning into space._

"_You're so stupid," Hidan said, sighing, preparing for battle against a pissed off blonde hottie named 'Boar'._

_**Hinata & Naruto**_

"_See anything, Hinata-chan?"_

"_No."_

"_How about now?"_

"_Nope."_

"_Now?"_

"_Still no."_

"_Uhmm... now?"_

"_No."_

**XxX **

**Comedic Next chapter. Once more, REVIEW!!** _**Oh! And I'm dedicating the next chapter!!**_


	23. And It Begins

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 23 -And It Begins (Comedic)

**Warning:** OOC-ness. Just a little. Ish. FUNNIES!! I make countless funnies! Or, I attempt to make funnies. Comedy! And Uhm.. Violence? The fights are beginning! (Though, Tobi and Deidara have been at it for awhile). Some language, but there's always some cussin' when you've got S-class criminals, ne?

**Disclaimer:** I DON'T OWN NARUTO. Masashi Kishimoto owns NARUTO, and don't I wish I was him? Yes. Every gosh darn day of my boring old teenage life. (Huff)

**Claimer:** Emi, Shira, Kikumaru. (Though you won't be hearing of them really any more until the sequel.)

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay. Ahh! Yes, It has been decided... Long ago actually, that there will indeed be a sequel to Stand My Ground! Hey, b.t.w. Anybody got any ideas for a title?? ;) I got a few ideas but they're kind of...eh. I could ask Ebil I suppose. Hmm. What do you think, KK? Let me know. The only one I've got is** 'Bittersweet'**. ;) Anyway, art thou ready for thee newest chapta??! I am. Sorta. Here ye goes, and my faith be with ye. :/ (my attempts at old English and pirate accents) XP.

**--**

"So," he said, staring blankly at her, "You're the famous medic-nin apprentice. Whoop-ti-doo."

"Yeah," Sakura said, eyes narrowed, "What's it to ya?"

"Don't get mouthy with me, kunoichi," Kisame said warningly, "I hate mouthy women."

"Well I hate pale blue fish people with sharp teeth. Which are crooked, just so you know."

Kisame scowled, muttering just barely audible, "Itachi you liar... you said they didn't look crooked.."

Sasuke sighed. Kisame chuckled at this, "You're a fool, Uchiha. You should've never walked into this base. You brought us a toy though, and I thank you on behalf of the Akatsuki. Trust me, she will be used frequently."

"You're disgusting," Sakura spat, pulling shuriken from her pouch."You have probably never been laid. If you even can. Fish and sex? Hmm, they have eggs with little babies in them.. So how does a shark with a so-called penis fit in?"

Kisame basically hissed at her. "You'll find out when you're chained to the dungeon wall."

"Whatever," Sakura said, brushing the comment off, "So sharky, how's living life with no water? You've sure got the gills," she grinned at him. "Having a hard time breathing yet?"

"I'm doing just fine, kunoichi, now make a move."

"Maybe I don't want to make a move, maybe I want to stand here and taunt you," She looked around the room at Sasuke who didn't say anything in objection. "And everybody in here seems to be okay with that," she added brightly.

"You're annoying," Kisame said, pulling his sword from his back and staring at her.

"If I get the chance, I'm going to shut those beady little shark eyes forever," Sakura promised, getting into a taijutsu stance, "And those teeth...yuck. I would put them on a necklace but you are a dentist's favorite patient. Have you ever heard of a toothbrush?"

Kisame was still glaring at her, "If _I_ get a chance, I'm going to rip out that tongue of yours and feed it back to you," he growled, his sword dangling at his side, looking uncaring.

"Can we get on with it?" Sasuke asked in annoyance, his face showing no emotion, "This is getting boring."

"I agree," Kisame said, still glaring ruthlessly at Sakura. "Can't wait to slash up your pretty face. And when you're in our toy box, oh, then we'll have some serious fun. Our own medic-nin. I'm sure you love to play nurse, eh?" Kisame snickered, watching the reaction on Sakura's face.

He didn't even bother to look at Sasuke, who still had on his emotionless mask. If you looked close enough, though, you could see his anger. Or you know, you could just look at the sharingan spinning in his normally dark midnight eyes, now glaring angrily at the Shark man.

"Go to hell," Sakura said simply, throwing her weapons.

**--**

"I didn't know you guys went this way," Chouji said, chewing on a piece of _who knows what_. He had run out of chips a good hour ago and was still chewing away.

"Yes you did. I said, 'Hey, guys, Kiba and I are going this way. Bye!' and Shikamaru shrugged and you guys followed us," Ino said, eyebrows raised.

Shikamaru and Kiba rolled their eyes.

"So, what's up anyways?" Kiba asked, watching as Akumaru curiously sniffed the ground ahead of them.

Akumaru stopped abruptly, and growled.

"Nothing really. Hey, wait," Shikamaru said sighing, "Troublesome, Hidan and Kakuzu are straight forward a couple meters. Through... that door way." His calloused finger was pointing to an iron door on one side of the long hallway. "They're not moving, they're pretty much just sitting there."

"That's weird," Ino commented, approaching the door warily, "I don't like this."

"No one does. I feel like we're genin again. We're not even being stealthy. We're just walking around the corridors like tourists," Chouji said, still munching.

"Yeah. We should stop doing that," Kiba said, watching as Shikamaru slowly opened the door.

As soon as it began to make the creaking sound, Shikamaru threw it the rest of the way open and moved out of the doorway, expecting an attack.

They got nothing.

Shikamaru, being the only sensible one, took a step back, pulling Ino with him. He'd be damned if one of those Akatsuki brats were going to hurt Ino and his baby.

Kiba and Akumaru on the other hand, took a few steps forward and peered through the door. Kiba's mouth dropped open and Chouji walked up, still munching, and peered in as well. His mouth dropped open too and Ino couldn't resist. She tried to move, but Shika had a relentless grip on her.

"What is it?" She asked, eager to know.

"Come here," Kiba said, his eyes never leaving the contents of the room, "You'll never believe this."

Hesitantly, Shikamaru guided Ino to the iron door and looked inside. The two Akatsuki targets were sitting there on a couch watching t.v, gleefully, ignoring the Konoha ninja behind them. The walls were covered in posters of various naked people, women, men, sharks (??). There was food everywhere and Chouji immediately pounced on a bag of potato chips.

Kiba had a question, "Dude, you guys get cable?"

The two Akatsuki turned and looked at the four leaf ninja. Their eyes widened but they turned back to the t.v. Shikamaru got a look of about 40 empty sake bottles all labeled 'Kisame' on them, that sat in front of the two members who started laughing idiotically. They were drunk off their asses.

"Well, this should be easier than I thought," Shikamaru said, gently pushing Ino behind him.

"HEY!" She shrieked, "I'm not a baby, you know!" Her loud outburst caused the two criminals to turn back again.

"I know that, Ino, but you're only thinking about yourself, what about your baby, hmm?"

Kiba and Chouji gaped. "WHAT?"

"SHUT UP, SHIKA! I'm doing this whether you like it or not!"

Kakuzu and Hidan stood up and turned to face their new opponents.

"Hey, don't we know her?" Kakuzu asked Hidan as Ino began performing the proper hand signs for her mind transfer jutsu.

"Yeah, that's the whore that Tobi paid like 10,000 for."

"HEY!" Ino growled, the mark on her forehead showing her displeasure, "I AM NOT A WHORE. I am a woman of many talents, and I am about to use them to beat your asses all the way back to hell."

"But we were never in hell," Kakuzu said, frowning into space.

"You're so stupid," Hidan said, sighing, preparing for battle against a pissed off blonde hottie named 'Boar'.

--

"Are you sure this is the right way, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked her, turning the corner.

"Pretty s-sure," Hinata replied, scanning the area with her byakugan. "I..I can see someone u-up ahead, but I can't tell if.. If it's our target," she added quietly.

Suddenly, the lights all around the went out, leaving them in total blackness.

"OI! Hinata, is that you I just touched?"

"H-hai, Naruto-kun," she answered from somewhere near his left.

His hands went out and found her, but she recoiled as soon as he touched her, letting out a surprised shriek.

"Hinata-chan?"

"Yes N-Naruto?" Her voice was shaky, Naruto had just accidentally fondled her chest. She was blushing furiously, feeling along the wall, her eyes still focused on the chakra points of whomever was up ahead. She turned her head towards Naruto, taking in his chakra flow, and then switched her vision. She couldn't see a thing and decided to keep the byakugan activated.

"See anything, Hinata-chan?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"Nope."

"Now?"

"Still no."

"Uhmm... now?"

"No."

"How about now?"

She didn't answer him, and even though everyone in the world thought that Hinata couldn't get annoyed with Naruto, she was becoming irritated.

"N-Naruto-kun, I'll tell you as soon as I s-see something, okay?"

Naruto nodded his head vigorously in the darkness, and his hand found Hinata's. Still unbeknownst to him: She was a dark red color.

--

Sai was losing patience. Deidara was cackling in that calm way, and Sai was getting irritated. He watched the remnants of his tiger disappear. Tobi had thrown something at it, and the tiger had melted like snow. He found he didn't like it when people messed up his art. He was furiously scribbling again, and once he was done, three more tigers jumped off the page.

They roared and went after Tobi, growling. The Akatsuki member screamed and ran, the tigers chasing him. Beside him, Neji rolled his eyes. Deidara was still throwing bombs at the dinosaur. Neji had shuriken out, hit each piece of clay to be blocked, exploding in mid-air before they could touch the t-rex.

Deidara had enough, and as he was adding the finishing touches onto a small piece of clay in his hand, something green whizzed by him, successfully knocking him off of his feet. He growled and stood up again, watching for it.

It went by him again, and Deidara threw a stream of explosives at it. One hit, and the thing tumbled to the ground.

"LEE!" A girl's voice screamed, coming from the trees. He saw the Hyuuga boy look up with surprise, and then back to the figure on the ground. But it was gone, and Deidara was left stunned.

Tobi emerged from the trees, a single tiger following him. It latched on to his leg and he yelped, attempting to shake it off. When it didn't budge, he hit it with something again, and it melted just as before. Sai's eyes narrowed.

Deidara looked up, watching with amusement and narrowly avoided a blow that would've cost him his life. An idiot in grass green spandex, bright orange leg warmers, a bowl shaped haircut and bushy eyebrows was staring at him angrily.

"YOU WERE GOING TO HURT SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sai inwardly blanched. Deidara chuckled, still watching Lee.

"Mmm, your girlfriend, yeah?"

"No! But maybe if I defeat you, she will agree to be my wife!" Sai blanched again, and TenTen sweatdropped. "She isn't married to the Uchiha yet!" He swung again, and Deidara chuckled at him.

"Too slow, mmm."

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee shrieked, "I AM SORRY! BUT I MUST REMOVE THE WEIGHTS! I MUST DO MY NINJA DUTY!"

Neji's eye twitched and Lee dropped the weights on the ground.

The Earth shook.

Lee was suddenly behind him, and Deidara didn't know what was happening. But then he was on the ground.

Tobi ran up, "DEIDARA-SENPAI!"

Deidara glowered but stood up again, watching Lee warily.

"Okay, Lee!" TenTen shouted from the other direction, "Kick him!"

"WITH ALL OF MY YOUTHFULNESS?"

"Sure, Lee."

"YOUTH, YOUTH, YOUTH, I AM THE BLOSSOM OF YOUTH, YOUTH, YOUTH!"

"Will somebody shut that kid up!?" Tobi yelled, slapping a hand to his mask.

Lee growled and lunged forward at Deidara and Tobi, who were slightly distracted with the t-rex. Tobi moved out of the way of Lee's flying kick which meant that Deidara...

"MMMMMMMM!"

"I thought you said that one with the blonde hair was a girl?" TenTen asked Sai, an eyebrow

raised looking slightly perplexed as Deidara fell to the ground in pain, the kick to his lower domain still burning.

"I AM NOT A GIRL!"

TenTen looked amused, but it was washed away as something rolled from Deidara's hand and began to grow. In a hiss of smoke, a large dragon stood in front of them.

"C2 Dragon," Tobi answered their un-asked question. Deidara was suddenly up again, and he and Tobi climbed onto the dragon's back.

"I've had enough of you, yeah!" He growled.

The dragon dived for the dinosaur and Deidara set loose another owl, which they climbed on to. Directing the owl and the dragon, Deidara watched from a good twenty feet about the ground.

Neji watched Sai out of the corner of his eye, while he was trying to pay attention to the battle between the dragon and the dinosaur. He watched Sai invoke another scroll and

expected a tiger. What he got was much different. It was an owl as well, black with yellow eyes.

Sai calmly instructed Neji to get on, and then explained that the bird would listen to his commands. Neji understood.

He was to get Deidara and Tobi out of the sky.

--

"Finally," Kisame breathed, avoiding the weapons and charging forward with his sword. Sasuke stepped in front of him, blocking the sword with his katana.

"What?!" Sakura shrieked, "You had that on you the whole time?"

"Hn," Sasuke said in response.

"Then how come I never saw it!"

"It's called a genjutsu, Sakura." He said, ignoring her bulging eyes.

"HELLO!? I'm a fucking genjutsu expert! It was not a genjutsu! You liar! Oh, I don't care if we made up or not!" She growled, "You're back on my shit list!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. _'Is this really the time?'_

They continued to fight with Kisame, and when they all stopped moving, each one had shed a little blood. Sakura put her hand up to her lip, where she'd been too late to block a punch to her face. Kisame had a gash under his 'beady little shark eye' from one of Sakura's attempts to 'shut them forever'. And Sasuke had a cut above his eyebrow. He didn't seem to notice.

And then one thousand birds current filled the room, and Sakura gaped. Before she could react, someone had her arm, and she was dragged from the room. Sakura screamed, hoping one last time that Sasuke could hear her, but she was drowned out in the chirping of his chidori.

"LET ME GO!" She screeched as soon as they were free of the room. The dark figure dropped her hard on the floor and backed up a few steps, eyes gleaming in the darkness.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Maybe now I'll be able to stifle that disgusting life now growing inside you," the deep voice growled.

Sakura looked up for a split second and saw the red eyes. She knew who they belonged to, and she didn't want to see them again. Picking herself up carefully, she refrained from shouting.

"You're dead," she said at last, focusing her eyes on his jaw line.

She flinched at the sound that came from him. A laugh? She was inwardly cringing.

"Not anymore."

Sakura got into another taijutsu stance. She heard the one thousand birds current die down and thought about yelling, but decided against it. She would kill the man who caused the one she loved so much pain.

Today, she would attempt to kill Uchiha Itachi.

_Again._

**--**

**Well, there's chapter 23, and I'm not happy with it, but it'll do. It was my attempt at a few jokes and a bit of serious humor. I had serious writer's block there for awhile, I'm not really a comedian, I mean, I can be funny, but its like a spur of the moment thing. So Hidan and Kakuzu are drunk! Yay! And if they live through this: (I'm not giving anything up) Kisame will probably shoot them for drinking his sake! Haha. Anyway, next chapter will have slight **_**Itachi&Sakura**_**, but it won't really mean anything. It's part of the story, and it's got to be there or the story won't have that 'Oomph' to it that I want so badly. This is a **_**Sasuke&Sakura**_** story, so don't worry. Only two or three more chapters left! Enjoy!**

**AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!! ;)**


	24. Burned

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 24- Burned

**Warning:** Severe trauma. Uhm, well, maybe not for you guys, but for my characters.. They're having some issues. Plus, very light Itachi&Sakura. Gomen. This IS a Sasuke&Sakura story, so don't get too worked up. It means nothing. An author never writes a story without the future of it in mind.

**Disclaimer:** I DON'T OWN NARUTO. If I did (or anyone else besides Kishimoto-sensei) do you think the story line would be the same? NO.

**Claimer:** Emi, Shira, Kikumaru. (Though you won't be hearing of them really any more until the sequel.)

**A/N:** Hmm. Well. There's only one chapter left after this... can you believe it?! Maybe, if I get the time, I might be able to shove a filler in and make it so there's two chapters left... but I don't know, guys. I know that Lee and Sakura still need to talk, because he just doesn't understand, lol. And I know that I have to specify certain parts, and I might be able to cram that into the last chapter. I don't know. Let me know if you just want the last chapter to be crammed with everything or if you want it to be all spaced. When I say crammed, I don't mean messy. Now, I know y'all reviewed and begged me to do stuff and begged me NOT to do stuff, but what happened had to happen, okay, guys? I'm really sorry to everyone who gets disappointed with this chapter. It needed to happen, and that's how it is.

Here we go.

**--**

"Mou," Sakura pouted sarcastically, "And here I thought the mission would be easy."

Itachi's face with expressionless, "It matters not," He responded calmly.

"Oh, don't go all Yoda on me," Sakura complained, throwing a few shuriken at him and keeping her sight locked on his jaw line. She refused to be caught in his genjutsu that way.

To her surprise, Itachi responded, "Yoda?" There was still no expression.

"You know," She coaxed, 'That a girl, keep making with the witty banter,' "The little green guy from Star Wars. Oh, right, you were too busy killing your clan to watch movies, my bad."

He said nothing, just continued staring at her.

"Whatever," She licked her lips, "You'll be dead soon anyway."

"So will you," Itachi supplied, watching with amused cold eyes as Sakura charged him.

--

Holding his bleeding arm, Kisame cracked a smile. "Seems like you were a little off, Uchiha," He grumbled, "Something got your panties in a twist?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the shark but said nothing. He moved forward and in one fluid motion sent a kick at the mist ninja. The only thing on his mind right now was drop kicking the Shark man back to wherever he came from. Only after Kisame swung the sword in an arc at his head, did he back up. He waited the flash of pink hair to advance as well, but it didn't came. He momentarily took his eyes off of Kisame and looked around the room. The shark man chuckled.

"Ah, so the Ice Princess noticed that her kunoichi whore is missing," He grinned at Sasuke, "It took you longer than I thought it would."

The angry Uchiha took a step toward his enemy, his hand gripping tightly on his remaining kunai.

"Where is she?" He demanded, and moved forward again, his kunai clashing with Kisame's sword.

Sasuke flipped up the sword and it flew into the air several feet away and he landed a punch to the Shark man's face. Kisame stumbled back and made several hand signs, two clones appearing next to him.

"I expect Itachi's got his claws pretty deep into her by now," The mist-nin responded merrily.

Sasuke stiffened momentarily and attacked again. Both of the clones advanced on him and slashed with their big swords, both missing. He ran his kunai through both of them and landed an uppercut to the Shark man's chin. He was thrown back again and when he stood Kisame was grinning again.

"Oh yeah," he shrugged smirking, "he's back by the way." He swung Samahada at Sasuke's head again but the latter ducked and landed another lunch to Kisame's stomach. Kisame's smirk faded.

Sasuke jumped back and swiped again with the kunai and slashed across Kisame's shin. He shoved Sasuke, who flew into a nearby wall with a loud thump.

A scream sounded.

"Ah," Kisame said, grinning again, "I'm sorry that this can't get serious. That was my cue. Gotta run." With that, Hoshigaki preformed quick hand signs and disappeared with a poof of smoke.

--

_**5 minutes previous.**_

"DAMN!" Sakura bellowed, jumping over the crater she made and away from the elder Uchiha. Blood was running down her cheek and her arm as she glowered over at his form.

Without any warning at all, she was pinned to the wall, struggling against his grip. His hand found its way to her throat and began squeezing, squeezing...

She tried to breathe, tried to struggle but she could barely keep alert. '_Okay, this is __**not**__ going well._'

"Hmm," Itachi remarked in a bored tone. "I don't understand what my foolish brother sees in you, you're nothing special. You may have trained under a sannin but that doesn't make you one. You're nothing. Why does he keep you around?"

She couldn't breathe, let alone speak.

"I told him to hate. I told him to despise me. I told him to run and be angry and get stronger. Instead.. He creates a life with.. _You_. A worthless woman. Why does he care about you? Why does he _love_ you? What are you? I will figure you out." All this was said with a bored tone, but Sakura could feel the meaning in his words. His hand loosened just enough for her to get one more breath. She let out a scream and gulped in some more air before he tightened it again. "I will find out what you are."

Then his lips crashed into hers and she could feel the darkness coming. He pulled away, his cold eyes studying. "There's nothing...No matter. It's over for you."

Movement caught her eyes and she turned her head. She saw the look of complete and utter horror on Sasuke's face... it made her heart burn inside her chest. She could almost feel his anger and shock across the room... it was burning her too..and then the cold metal pierced her stomach, she screamed again. And then the world faded around her.

--

Neji focused on the task at hand. He sent his chakra into the owl beneath him, careening it around the sky, after the two fleeing Akatsuki members. Below them, the dragon and the dinosaur continued to fight. He watched the remaining Konoha ninja retreat from the area on another one of Sai's drawn creatures, he knew the danger they were in. If the dragon exploded, they'd all die. At this thought, he unconciously raised the owl higher, narrowing his eyes at Deidara and Tobi. He was just about on them when he saw Deidara make the hand sign.

And then everything was bathed in a red-ish white light. Neji could feel the heat on his skin, burning him. He landed hard on the ground, gasping for breath. The owl had disinigrated the moment it hit the Earth and Neji knew he had some burns on his arm. He winced and forced himself to stand on shaky legs. He noticed that Deidara and Tobi weren't in the sky anymore, and neither were Sai, Lee and TenTen. He narrowed his eyes and moved into the darkness.

"Byakugan!" He muttered, and found all five bodies. They were all pretty equally proportioned in distance and the one thing that made him shutter: one of them was dead.

He ran towards the nearest one, and got there just as it groaned. He watched, closing the distance as it stood up, rubbing its eyes. He focused in on it and found it to be...

"Neji?"

"Lee. Where's TenTen?"

"TENTEN!" Lee exclaimed, looking around frantically, "I will find her!" Seconds later, the boy returned with three bodies. TenTen, Sai and Deidara, who was seemingly... dead.

"Where's the other? The one with the mask?" Neji asked as he moved to Lee and helped him set the bodies gently on the grass.

"I do not know, Neji," Lee said, sadly looking at the bodies of Sai and TenTen, who were breathing, but just barely. "I only found this." He pulled out the orange one-eyed mask that was broken in two.

Neji scanned the area. Tobi had escaped.

--

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata asked warily. "I.. I see something..."

"What is it?" Naruto asked, obvious excitement in his voice.

"It.. It's Sakura-san and Sasuke-san," Hinata shuddered as she tried to identify the last figure.

"What are they doing? Just standing around.. That teme.."

Hinata's eyes widened in horror as she watched the unknown figure stab Sakura. "N-Naruto-kun!"

"What is it, Hinata-chan?"

"S-Some...someone j-just... Sakura-san..." She couldn't even bring herself to say it.

"OI! Hinata-chan! What happened to Sakura-chan!?" Naruto was nervous now, his hand squeezing Hinata's. She let out a squeak, trying to breathe enough to speak.

"Hurry, Naruto-kun! We have to help!"

--

"Oh, you've gotta be shitting me," Ino said, watching as Hidan and Kakuzu stumbled over their own feet.

Kiba and Chouji gaped at her use of language. Shikamaru didn't seem to be affected.

"Oi, Chouji," Ino called, ignoring the shocked look on his face, "Why don't you just roll them over?"

Chouji eyed her with a level look. He was about the respond when Shikamaru spoke.

"Troublesome... Oi! Losers!"

Hidan and Kakuzu looked up angrily. "Hey! We're Akatsuki.. You can't... and I'll.."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

He turned to Kiba, about to give an order, when he heard Ino shriek again.

"FUCK!"

The two Akatsuki were gone.

--

I know that was INCREDIBLY short, but expect the next one to be INCREDIBLY long.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I am evil. PURE EVIL.

Here's a small clue: Hidan and Kakuzu ran away! Like little girls! Who are drunk! Apparently. And Deidara's dead, Tobi got away... and well.. Sakura's in a situation.

Regrettably, you will not be reading the fight between Itachi, and Sasuke until the sequel!

Don't worry. Once we get through this: it'll all make sense.

I'll update with the last chapter as soon as I can! ;) I hope you enjoyed!


	25. It Ends The Same

**Title:** Stand My Ground

**Chapter:** 25- It Ends The Same

**Warning: **Ahh. Language. THE_ LAST_ CHAPTER. Remember, if you murder me, then I can't write the sequel.

**Disc.:** ME NO OWN NARUTO, Damn it! How many times do I need to repeat myself?

**Distr.:** Hmph, go to my profile and look under TERMS.

**Music:** All The Same- Sick Puppies, Stand My Ground- Within Temptation

**A/N:** Well, well, well. I've decided to give you **one** final chapter. This covers most stuff that I didn't get to before this, and ties up most of the loose ends. It's the last chapter. It's so weird.. I feel like I should keep going.. But that's what sequels are for! I'm going to update Backwards as well, and put up a few song fics.

**SxS**

"You will repeat this dream for the next 12 hours," Itachi said, dropping her now useless body on the ground. He smirked, "If you live that long."

Sasuke was staring. His mouth was slightly agape, and he could do nothing. His brother was dead! He had killed him with his own two hands... but there he was standing over the body of.. Sakura... _Oh shit. Why did she think she could fight him by herself? Why was she so determined to prove herself? _It was all slipping away from him again. His brother was taking the people he loved away from him. The woman he loved and his child were dying before his very eyes. And.. Did Itachi just _KISS_ her?!

"Sakura!" He ground out, watching her barely breathing body, unmoving on the floor. Blood was pooling around her, and it was like a brick to the face when he realized it was coming from the wound on her belly. He wasn't shocked anymore. He was pissed. He took a step forward, he would kill this man again. Because the only one allowed to hurt her, _ever_, was him.

**SxS**

_He was walking away from her again. Why did he always do that?_

_I don't mind where you come from_

_As long as you come to me_

_I don't like illusions I can't see_

_Them clearly_

"_Stop!" She demanded, her voice echoing through the blackness._

_I don't care no I wouldn't dare_

_To fix the twist in you_

_You've shown me eventually_

_What you'll do_

"_Don't do this to yourself, Sakura," He said, still facing away from her._

_I don't mind..._

_I don't care..._

_As long as you're here_

"_Do it to myself? You're doing it to me, baka. Please, don't leave. You promised."_

"_I guess I shouldn't make promises I can't keep," He responded harshly._

"_Nande?" She demanded, "Why the hell are you doing this, Sasuke? You're running in circles! You have to stop using me like this! I'm not a toy, damn it. I'm a person with feelings. I thought you'd finally understood that. You've got to stop leaving like this."_

_Go ahead tell me you'll leave again_

_You'll just come back running_

_Holding your scarred heart in hand_

_It's all the same_

_And I'll take you for who you are_

_If you take me for everything_

_Do it all over again_

_It's all the same_

"_You're too naive to walk away, which means I've got to," He said finally. "Don't you understand? You're dying, Sakura. He's killed you. And I–"_

_Hours slide and days go by_

_Till you decide to come_

_And in between it always seems too long_

_All of a sudden_

"_SHUT UP!" She screeched, her eyes widening as it began to rain. The rain drops weren't like she'd ever seen them. They were red, and thick.. It was as if the sky was wounded..._

_And I have the skill, yeah I have the will_

_To breathe you in while I can_

_However long you stay_

_Is all that I am_

_I don't mind..._

_I don't care..._

_As long as you're here_

"_Don't you get it?" He laughed cruelly, and Sakura felt as if her insides were being ripped out. "You really are nothing. He was right. For once the bastard was right. You are nothing to me. You can't even stay pregnant."_

_At this, she masked her emotions entirely, her face doused with bloody rain. She looked down and realized that she was in fact, bleeding as well. She ripped up her shirt, revealing a kunai wound._

"_Don't __**you**__ get it?" She growled, "I don't... I..Stop running away!.." Her façade crumbled, salty tears clearing the blood away from her eyes in streaks. She had finally understood, "I lost the baby...?"_

_Go ahead tell me you'll leave again_

_You'll just come back running_

_Holding your scarred heart in hand_

_It's all the same_

_And I'll take you for who you are_

_If you take me for everything_

_Do it all over again_

_It's always the same_

"_Why did you think I was being honest? The only time I've ever been honest was when I insulted you. You are pathetic. To think I was going to restore the Uchiha clan with such a sad excuse for a woman."_

_Wrong or right_

_Black or white_

_If I close my eyes_

_It's all the same_

_In my life_

_The compromise_

_I close my eyes_

_It's all the same_

"_Stop it!" She shrieked, her chest heaving, "This isn't right! You've never been like this before! It's not real!"_

_He was behind her then, breathing down her neck. Her whole body shook, and she whipped around, bringing up her bloody hand to smack him. The thick red crimson kept falling, obscuring her vision.. It was all so red... Why was this all so wrong? Why?_

_Then it came to her...tsukuyomi._

_Go ahead say it you're leaving_

_You'll just come back running_

_Holding your scarred heart in hand_

_It's all the same_

_And I'll take you for who you are_

_If you take me for everything_

_Do it all over again_

_It's all the same_

_She knew she wouldn't be able to handle hearing any more of what the raven haired boy was saying. And to go through this for 12 hours? She was positive she was going to die._

**SxS**

"We need to get back to the base, now," Neji said calmly, watching as Lee attempted again to carry all three bodies. "Stop," He commanded, "I've got TenTen. Put Sai on your back."

"We need to bring this one," Lee pointed at Deidara, shoving the mask back under his black ANBU cloak that he'd thrown on the ground before attacking Deidara.

"I know."

"What...? Neji...?" TenTen looked up her eyes having trouble focusing on her boyfriend's face. "What happened...?"

"It's okay," Neji said, monotone.

TenTen shut her eyes again, and Neji felt something warm on his arm. He extracted it from underneath TenTen and his eyes widened in realization as he watched the blood soaking through his shirt. It was not his own.

**SxS**

"We can't let them just get away. Why would they drink sake and get drunk with enemies in the base?" Ino asked, prowling the room, looking for food. She found a refrigerator in the corner and plucked out an unopened jar of pickles, "Ooh, my lucky day!" She exclaimed, struggling to open them. "Shika-kun? Please open these?"

Chouji and Kiba were gaping again.

"Shika-kun?" Chouji asked, clearly offended at the prospect that his two best friends were adding suffixes. He had already banished the baby comment from his mind.

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered, moving to help the irritated girl. He opened the jar and handed it back. She extracted a pickle, smiling brightly, totally oblivious to the fact that they were on a mission, that two Akatsuki members had just gotten away, and that two of her companions were staring at her. She finished off the pickle and reached for another when she heard a blood curling scream.

"_SAKURA!"_

The pickle jar shattered on the cement floor.

**SxS**

"HINATA-CHAN! Back up!" He said frantically, pulling her away from the two Uchihas. Hinata hadn't cared that she might die by jumping in the middle of a raging battle. Even with her byakugan, all she saw was her friend lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

Naruto could feel the tears as he began to understand the situation. He shook his head, poured good thoughts into his head and kissed Hinata, who'd been frozen after she'd pulled Sakura from the wreckage. She jumped, and Naruto stepped back giving her a sad, final look. She gave him a look of understanding, sorrow and fright as he turned from her, and dove into the battle. He would back up Sasuke. Even if it cost him his life.

**SxS**

"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?" Tsunade was screaming, Shizune was trembling, the ANBU in front of the blonde Hokage were cowering and TonTon was squealing... "WHY THE _FUCK_ AREN'T THEY ANSWERING!? I did not give them the _okay_ to _enter_ the base! Do you understand me?!" Her hand crashed through her desk, an explosion of paper and a loud 'crack' signaled that the desk was now worthless.

Shizune looked like she was ready to faint, Tsunade had never used such language, ever, not even when Jiraya had tried to kiss her.

And on top of it all, the results of the blood tests Tsunade had made Ino and Sakura take the day she'd called them into her office had come back.

_**Several weeks previous.**_

Sakura and Ino were connected at the elbow, both looking quite depressed as they left Tsunade's office. They didn't look up until they bumped into Shizune who'd been carrying several books. TonTon squealed and scrambled to get away from the falling books. There was a couple thumps and a few surprised gasps.

Ino, Sakura and Shizune all bent down to pick up the books when she noticed the band-aids on their arms.

"What's that all about?" Shizune asked Sakura, looking up with curiosity.

"Nani? Oh, just a... a... routine blood test," Sakura mumbled, piling the last of the books back onto the stack in Shizune's arms.

"Oh. Well, bye Sakura, Ino! Nice _bumping_ into you!"

She watched the two miserable girls walk down the hallway and out of the tower. Shaking her head, she wondered what the big deal was. When she went into Tsunade's office, the woman was drunk, so she didn't get much out of her. Just a, "More sake, Shizune."

And she had complied. Tsunade _was_ the Godaime after all.

_**Several weeks later.**_

Those two blood tests confirmed two of the ANBU out on the mission that weren't responding to calls, were pregnant. Two of the only four kunoichi... the two strongest.

Shizune shook her head to regain her attention, and watched the ANBU retreat from the room, and to her horror and surprise, Tsunade _burst into tears_.

Everything was falling to pieces.

_**With Neji.**_

"We're almost there," Neji growled, Lee was faultering because of the weight of the two bodies, but he was trying his best not to show it.

"Yes! That is good!" Lee exclaimed, running faster, "Is TenTen alright?"

"I don't know," was all the prodigy said, and they were inside the gates, the guards staring at them. Well, mostly the dead body of Deidara.

"We should go to the Hokage's office!" Lee announced, but Neji stopped him.

"She might not be there. We need to go straight to the hospital. Someone will help them there."

Lee nodded and they rushed towards the hospital, Neji ignoring his throbbing shoulder and Lee ignoring his aching rib.

As they set TenTen and Sai down, Tsunade came barreling towards them.

_**Three hours later.**_

A raven haired boy rushed into the same hospital, a bloody mass of something in his arms, followed by a loud, screaming blonde and a girl with lavender eyes who was crying so hard she was shaking. The blonde and the crying girl took seats in the waiting room while the Hokage herself came running towards them, hands already glowing bright green with healing chakra.

_**Eighteen hours later**_

"Is she awake?"

"No," came the reply from the silver haired jounin sitting in the chair beside the bed, "I know you don't want to except this Naruto, but you need to remember what Tsunade said. She might never wake up."

"Aw, c'mon, Kakashi-sensei, this is Sakura-chan we're talking about. Plus, she'll want to come out now that we're all a team again."

Kakashi didn't move to respond or even look up from his porn book, but inside, he was screaming.

_**Four hours previous.**_

"Get out. Go comfort the Hyuuga or something!"

"Where's the teme!?"

"In room 108, now get out!"

"What about Sakura-chan?"

"I said, get out."

"Tsunade-baa-chan, You have to save her!"

"UZUMAKI, you're pushing my patience," the Godaime growled, "You know I want to save her just as much as you. She's my student and friend, and that's the end. I'm doing the best I can, damn it. Now get the fuck out of here before I throw you out."

_**Six hours previous.**_

The blonde woman refused to make eye-contact with Shizune. There was a look in her eyes that Tsunade was not going to deal with, and she didn't give a damn about anything other than the person lying on the table.

"She's lost too much blood, Tsunade-sama."

"I know that, but I don't care."

"Tsunade," Kakashi said, coming up behind her, "what about..?"

The tone of his voice made Tsunade understand immediately what he was talking about.

"You knew?" Tsunade roared, causing Kakashi to step back.

"Yes, I knew."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me! I could have you thrown into jail right now, Hatake. You and Uchiha, you both knew about this and you put everyone's lives in danger. Including hers!"

"Then send me to jail," he sighed, "I'd rather be in jail then in hell for breaking the promise I made to her. She is the glue to my team. She is the only reason my team has lasted as long as they have. She makes us smile. She's an amazing, kind person. I wasn't about to break her any more than she already was broken."

Tsunade said nothing but continued furiously pumping blood back into the pale stick of a girl who was lying on the table in front of her.

_**Two weeks previous.**_

"Kakashi-sensei! You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Sakura, please sit down."

The girl did as she was asked and took a seat on her sensei's sofa.

"So what's up, Kakashi-sensei? What'd you need?"

"Hold on, Sakura, let me get the tea."

"Careful, Kaka-sensei, you might drop it. Take your nose out of that porn book for just a minute or two, okay? I don't want to heal any wounds you're bound to get by picking up broken glass or dropping hot tea all over."

He came back with two cups of tea a few minutes later and sat next to her on the couch.

'_Best to get straight to it.' _"Sakura, are you pregnant?"

The tea that was half-way down said girl's throat was suddenly being hacked violently back up, she was sputtering, trying to breathe again.

"W-What makes you think that?"

"I'm your sensei, not an idiot, Sakura. Plus, I have the sharingan. You've been acting strangely ever since we retrieved you, Sasuke and Naruto from that cabin."

"What happened to that cabin?" Sakura asked, trying to change the subject.

"The one where you were originally staying we burned down. The one where we found you was left as it was. Now, answer the question, Sakura."

"U..uh.. Well.. You see..." She tried to meet his eye and ended up avoiding it instead. "Hai."

The world halted for a split second and Kakashi found he couldn't breathe. His little female student... he'd always thought of her as a daughter... she was just a girl, a child herself... how could she be having one? He was going to kill the Uchiha the moment he saw him. She must've saw the panic and anger in his eyes as she was talking again.

"Kakashi, it's my fault, I'm _so_ sorry, don't take this out on Sasuke."

"Your fault? Is that what he told you?"

"No! Of course not! It's just- "

"It takes two," He growled, trying to keep his anger in check.

"I know, I know," She choked, desperately reaching for anything to fix the mess she had made.

"He's going to take responsibility," Kakashi said. It was not a question.

"He is! He said he would! He's never been a liar."

"If he tries to walk away..."

"He won't! But you can't tell, Kakashi-sensei! Please! Promise me..." She begged, finally looking into his face. "Please," she repeated.

**SxS**

**Two weeks later, four hours previous.**

"_Naruto?... Kakashi...?_

_They were lying on the ground in front of her, their limbs in odd positions that even Ino couldn't pull off. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze locked on their lifeless eyes. She half-gasped and half-sobbed as her eyes fell on their fatal wounds. Katana shaped chidori holes through their hearts._

_She reached for them and her eyes caught something dark. She could see him in the distance. He was lying on the grass as well, and she could hear Itachi's footsteps approaching her._

_There was blood everywhere.. Everything was red... as if a child colored the entire world with a scarlet crayon. And when she saw the fetus...she was on her hands and knees, the bile rising in her throat._

**SxS**

**Present.**

She knew she should open her eyes, but she couldn't. Everything would be red. The skies would be coated in crimson, her hands... her friends..._Sasuke_...

She glared at the inside of her eyelids and cracked them open a few inches. Seeing nothing but white, she deemed it safe to open them more, and found she was in a hospital room. Her eyes fell upon Kakashi's huddled form in the chair beside her bed.

What had happened? Where was Sasuke? Was Itachi dead? What about the mission? Was everyone okay? What about Ino and her baby?

The word baby echoed in her mind and her hand immediately went to her stomach. She let out a sharp gasp, and ignored the fact that Kakashi was waking up as she felt the bandages beneath the gown. Kakashi didn't even have time to blink before Sakura's terrified shriek filled the room. Her frantic eyes landed on Kakashi's face and she desperately searched it for an answer. But her sensei was as passive as ever, only showing a small look of surprise before it disappeared completely.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She was as pale as a ghost and her eyes were filled with tears.

Kakashi's heart broke.

**Eight hours previous.**

"What happened?!"

Tsunade's head snapped up out of her semi-slumber. She'd been leaning on her new desk, a steel one, when the outburst had sent another wave of sharp pain through her head. She let out a short growl and looked up to find the frantic-angry face of Uchiha Sasuke.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked from Shizune, who'd dropped a stack of papers on the floor- mouth slightly open, eyes also wide in surprise, back to the raven haired boy who looked completely Emo.

"Uchiha, sit down," She managed calmly, and he stared at her.

"I'll pass. Where's Sakura, is she okay?"

"I said SIT."

He glared at the big-chested woman and sat stiffly in the chair in front of her new desk. "Well?" He asked im patiently.

"She's in the ICU. She's in a coma right now from so much blood loss." Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off, "She might never wake up."

His mouth snapped shut, and so did his eyes, his head bent down, and he stared mercilessly at the carpet.

"And Uchiha..." She's expected his emotionless face, but what she got was much different. He looked up at her with sad eyes, and a small frown, he was obviously upset. "I know that you knew Sakura was pregnant."

He paused, glaring slightly, "Was?"

Tsunade didn't answer. "I could throw you in jail," she said quietly, "but I won't. I think what happened is punishment enough. I know that you and Naruto didn't get to spill Itachi's blood a second time, and that this is hard for you, because you believe you are an avenger." He was still silent. "Uchiha, you have to forget your revenge. Sakura needs you right now more than anyone."

"I know that," he said evenly. "But I can't just forget."

"I'm sorry you see it that way."

"I request permission to leave Leaf."

This stunned Tsunade into silence and she looked over to Shizune who had let out a small gasp. Her head turned back to Sasuke, sitting in the chair sullenly, his eyes hidden under his dark bangs. Tsunade looked thoughtful for awhile, and silence followed. Shizune muttered something inaudible and bent down to pick up the papers.

"I know that even if I deny you permission to leave the village, you will leave anyway. I cannot bring myself to put your team through that again, therefore I am granting you this permission. There is a catch." She watched Sasuke's face, and he looked angry, confused and curious. "In three years or less, you must return. If you don't, I'll have to write you down as a missing-nin, and charge you with abandoning Konoha again. You will not get off so easily this time. Do I make myself clear?"

He nodded, "Hai."

"Now," Tsunade said with a small hint of anger, "Get out of here. I have to attend to my patients."

Sasuke nodded, and he stood, giving one final look at the room before leaving it.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" Shizune shrieked, her eyes wide, "You're just letting him leave?"

"You heard my reasons, Shizune," Tsunade stated, ignoring the look on her friend's face. "Do me a favor and don't question them. Ah!" Shizune's gaze went abruptly to Tsunade, who had a text book on her desk.

_TSUNADE STUDYING?! TWICE IN A DECADE!?_

"SHIZUNE!" Tsunade's voice was quivering. "Did the baby leave Sakura's body yet?"

"...no..," She looked puzzled. "Nande?"

"I've got an idea."

_**With Sasuke.**_

He pushed his way down the hospital corridors, reaching room _109_, the one across from the room he had abandoned a thirty minutes before. He opened the door quietly, and wasn't surprised to find Kakashi in the chair next to the bed, nose buried in his porn novel.

With one look, the silver haired jounin stood, nodding solemly at Sasuke and leaving the room. He shut the door behind him and Sasuke went over to the bed, looking down at her frail form.

He would kill Itachi _50,000_ times for this.

She looked so small, so broken... so delicate. He hated it. He hated her. Why did she fight him? Why did she do this to herself? Why, why, why?

He hated knowing nothing. He hated loving her. He hated it all.

Bending, he placed a tender kiss on her lips before receding from the room.

**Five minutes after.**

Tsunade had rushed into the room, her eyes still reading the page of the medical text, ocassionally shouting orders. Three male nurses prepared Sakura for her emergency surgery as the plan in Tsunade's brain finalized itself. There was a **56** chance that the operation would work. It was better than 50, and she was sticking with her motto she had when Lee's surgery became a question. _Wasn't even one percent over enough reason to do it?_

She was determined to get this **right**.

**Present.**

"Sakura," Kakashi responded quietly, keeping his voice normal, "You're awake."

"What happened?" She asked, struggling to stay calm, "Tell me, please."

"Well..." It was at that moment that a loud, orange-clad ninja entered the room...in an oddly quiet fashion.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his voice was subdued. When he saw her sitting up, the happy quiet-ness was put to an end. "YOU'RE AWAKE! THANK KAMI! WAIT UNTIL THE TEME KNOWS!"

Sakura visibly relaxed at the mention of Sasuke.

"Well it won't take long, will it, baka?" Kakashi said, rolling his visible eye. "Naruto, use your inside voice."

"But Kakashi-sensei! I'm just so excited that Sakura-chan's awake!" Kakashi cringed and Naruto walked enthusiastically over to Sakura, who was still distressed, and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. She smiled lightly, a worried expression still dominating her face. Surprisingly, she moved over and allowed Naruto space next to her on the bed. He grinned and slid in next to her, keeping her wrapped in a hug. "I was really worried about you, Sakura-chan."

She let out a sigh, and her attention returned to her sensei. "Kakashi... what about..." her eyes filled with tears again, "my..."

Kakashi sent her a sad smile that she couldn't see and began to speak, "Well you see, Sakura..."

"Hey!" Naruto interrupted again, "Where is that teme anyway?"

The door swung open and Tsunade stood there, her arms folded under her rather large breasts and she let out a sigh.

"_He's gone._"

Sakura's eyes widened and she grew stiff in Naruto's embrace. "WHAT? What do you mean '_**gone**_'?!"

"He requested permission to leave Leaf. I had no choice but to give it to him. I'm sorry, Sakura."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN '_NO CHOICE_', BAA-CHAN!? UNLESS HE WAS HOLDING A SUPER LARGE BLASTY THING AT YOUR HEAD THEN YOU HAD A CHOICE!"

"Inside voice, Naruto," Kakashi boomed.

"Gomen," He said, glaring at the floor. "You all wait until I get a hold of that teme..."

Ino and Shikamaru slipped through the doorway beside Tsunade and Ino appeared on the other side of Sakura. Sakura clasped her hand and turned back to Tsunade.

"He can't be gone," she said, her voice breaking, "He just can't. He _promised_ me."

"I'm sorry, Sakura," Tsunade repeated, looking truly forlorn.

"What about my..." Sakura squeezed Ino's hand, "_baby_?"

_Nobody said anything._

_And then Sakura burst into tears. _

Ino squeezed her hand, she had tears into her eyes as well, and Naruto hugged her tighter, whispering comforting words in her ear.

"Your baby is alive," Tsunade said calmly.

Sakura's sobs slowed until there was only silence again.

"But then why did Sasuke leave?" Ino asked, her other arm going around Shikamaru's waist.

"Because when he left, it wasn't."

_Silence_.

Is.

**Not**.

Golden.

"WHAT?" Naruto asked, obviously confused.

"I restored life to it using part of Sakura's soul."

To Kakashi, whoever said that silence was golden was

AS

NUTTY

AS

SQUIRREL

POO.

"What?"

**SxS**

**Two weeks later.**

_I can see _

_When you stay low nothing happens _

_Does it feel right? _

_Late at night _

_Things I thought I put behind me _

_Haunt my mind _

Sakura stood quietly on the hill, her hand placed comfortably on her growing belly. The wind was blowing steadily, and her tears were raining down freely. The sky was a dark gray, save the horizon which was a very faint orange-pink. She sighed.

_I just know there's no escape _

_Now once it sets its eyes on you _

_But I won't run, have to stare it in the eye _

The sky was slowly darkening, and Sakura heard a low crackle of thunder somewhere in the distance. Her heart fluttered thinking that Sasuke could hear it too, and that he would feel the rain on his skin, just like she would when it came.

_Stand my ground, I wont give in _

_No more denying, I got to face it _

_Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside _

_If I dont make it, someone else will _

_Stand my ground _

Her heart was officially in a million pieces now and somehow, Naruto, Kakashi and Ino were helping her put it back into countable pieces. She knew, though, despite their efforts, she wouldn't be whole again. Not until he returned to her. He still had a piece of her heart, and she wondered how she would survive... how her child would survive without him. With a mother that wasn't complete, with a life not always filled with endless joy and love.

_It's all around _

_Getting stronger, coming closer _

_Into my world _

Bringing a child into the world was no joke. Especially at her age. And she was already being punished for not telling the Hokage of her condition, as was Ino. It was true, they both had put everyone in danger. Shino had died because two pregnant scared kunoichis had allowed it.

_I can feel _

_That it's time for me to face it _

_Can I take it? _

Well, they hadn't_ truly_ allowed it. They had kind of tried to stop it. And they had sorrowfully explained this to his clan, who took it quite well. Their son had died a ninja, defending two of his companions, and he had eliminated a member of the Akatsuki. The only way they'd be any happier is if their boy had returned to them.

_Though this might just be the ending _

_Of the life I held so dear _

_But I won't run, there's no turning back from here _

Sakura didn't understand Sasuke's decision to leave again one bit. She twisted it, tried to convince herself every way she could think of, but nothing compared to her pain. How could he just leave her like that? He had thought that their child was dead, yes, she understood that and it pained her to think of the moments when a part of her wasn't breathing. But their child's heart was beating now, wasn't it? And what about her?

_Stand my ground, I wont give in _

_No more denying, I got to face it _

_Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside _

_If I dont make it, someone else will _

_Stand my ground _

It began to sprinkle and Sakura's tears intensified. She remembered the bloody sky and the swirling irises of Itachi's mangekyo sharingan. She hated them. They gave her nightmares and made her skin crawl. She could only hope to Kami that the man died before Sasuke-kun caught up to him. For his own sake.

_All I know for sure is I'm trying _

_I will always stand my ground _

Why was the sky always crying with her? At least she felt like she wasn't alone. She let out another sigh and looked up at the dark sky, ignoring the rain on her face. She smiled lightly when she thought of him.. And of her baby. One day he would come back, she was sure.

_Stand my ground, I wont give in _

_I wont give up _

_No more denying, I got to face it _

_Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside _

_If I dont make it, someone else will _

_Stand my ground _

He had to come back to her one day, ne? If he didn't, than she supposed he'd been lying when he told her he loved her. But why would someone who had trouble saying such things and showing such intense emotions fake it and lie? She would wait until he returned. But until then...

_Stand my ground, I wont give in _

_No more denying, I got to face it _

_Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside _

_If I dont make it, someone else will _

_Stand my ground _

She forced her tears to stop, and soon after, the rain let up, and she could see the tint of orange-pink that told her the sun was setting still. _'I love you, Sasuke-kun, wherever you are.'_

She would raise her child. She would be the best mother she could fathom, and do everything in her power to be her baby's rock. She would live her life. And she would do it with strength and dignity that no one else had. Yes, she would stand her ground. And she would stand it well.

**SxS**

_A/N:_

**Okay, I know all of you hate me right now for making him leave, but it had to happen. This is the longest chapter ever for me, and I hope you liked it! (Meh, ignore the fact that they didn't get a happy ending. As said afore, that's what sequels are for.) **

**Notice I put Sakura in room 109... ;) **

**If y'all don't know what happened in episode 109, then you need to find out. Psh.**

**I love you guys, and if you don't review.. Well.. I'll take away Kakashi's porn book, Naruto's ramen and Sasuke-kun's tomatoes! And they'll kill me. Then I won't be able to write the sequel!**

**And I STILL NEED SEQUEL TITLE SUGGESTIONS. **

**PLEASE.**

**And thank you.**

_**Sequel Spoilers:**_

_**The fight scene will be in the sequel, as will Tsunade's explanation to reviving the baby and Karin's assassination attempt! **_

_**THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO ALL OF YOU;; AND MOSTLY TO THE REVIEWERS WHO'VE STUCK WITH ME SINCE THE BEGINNING! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND YOU MAKE ME WANT TO WRITE MORE!**_

_Much Love,_

_**S&S**__ Always,_

Rach


	26. About The Sequel

_Hey._

Rach/you.broke.a.promise here.

Some of you seem to have problems finding the sequel- And that is ENTIRELY MY FAULT.!

* * *

I'm serious. I'm retarded because I never fixed it when I changed it! -headdesks-

* * *

I have it up as the sequel is being called The Other Half (Of Me) When the title actually got changed to The Obsidian Petals.

It has 14 chapters as of right now, April, 29th, 2008!

**GO READ IT AND REVIEW ME, LOVLIES!**

**;) Thank ya muches.**


	27. OH NO!

Oh snap.

Here's the what. I have horrible news.

Obsidian Petals has been deleted. You see, as I was uploading the newest chapter, something went wrong and deleted my actual story. Now, I would have no problem with this, if my hard drive and all of my documents hadn't been cleared last month.

Which means no past chapters of Obsidian Petals.

:

Awww.

To be honest, I cannot (will not) re-write those 17 chapters again. It's just not possible for me.

So, I'm sorry everyone.


	28. Opinions, please

Herroh there!

I realize it's been a massively long time, but I was just curious about something.

How would you guys feel about SMG being re-written?

I have it up as a poll question on my profile, and you can leave your comments here. If you think it's a good idea please let me know! I won't bother if nobody's going to read it, but I re-read it recently and I am quite disappointed with it and I see a lot of room for improvement! :)

So just voice your opinions!

Thank youuu. :3


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